Bruises
by funkymunky1528
Summary: The Marauder's final year at Hogwarts and beyond. Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter deal with love, friendship, the real world, and all the bruises that come along with life. James/Lily, Sirius/OC, Remus/OC
1. Chapter 1

"Prongs? Oi, Prongs!" It was September 1st and platform nine and three-quarters was buzzing with students. Sirius Black, a young attractive man with shaggy dark hair and grey eyes, leaned casually against a wall. His best friend, James Potter, stood next to him, his hazel eyes scanning the crowd, clearly paying no attention to his companion.

"If you're a total wanker keep on ignoring me." Sirius said loudly in James' ear.

"Huh, what?" James jumped, "Did you just call me a wanker?" he asked puzzled.

"Sure did mate, I've been trying to get your attention for ages," Sirius replied with a grin.

"Well, what is it? I'm looking for Evans." James said turning his attention back to the crowd. Sirius rolled his eyes and sighed heavily.

"Evans, Evans, Evans, you're like a broken record." he said shaking the hair out of his face. A group of girls giggled as they passed the two, Sirius grinned and winked.

"It's like you two have your own fan club." said Remus Lupin, a thin boy with sandy blonde hair. He pulled his trunk behind him as he strode up to his friends.

"Moony!" Sirius said patting Remus on the back. "It is like we have our own fan club, and you darling Moony are our most valued member." Sirius winked, Remus rolled his eyes. Remus nodded to James.

"What's with him?" he asked.

"Looking for Evans, he's got something to show her." Sirius winked. "Hey James, you got a spot on your head boy badge." Sirius said point to a small badge pinned to his friends robes.

"Oh really?" James said looking down.

"Sike!" Sirius said flicking James' nose. Remus sniggered as Sirius laughed loudly.

"Ooh, you're so funny Pads," James said bitterly, rubbing his nose gingerly.

"Well it serves you right, you've been such a little wanker all summer with that thing," Sirius said.

"Again with the wanker, Padfoot, are we fighting?" James asked grinning at his friend. Sirius grinned back. Both had an evil glint in their eye.

"James Potter and Sirius Black fighting, say it isn't so!" gasped a short, round faced boy who had just joined their group.

"Hey Pete, how was your holiday?" Remus asked as James and Sirius began wrestling. Sirius may have been stronger, but James was quick. Soon James was holding a panting Sirius in a headlock. Sirius was struggling to break free from his grip, when a short girl, with dark red hair began to walk by. Noticing the four boys, Lily Evans stopped and stared at the scene.

"Hello Remus, Peter," she said smiling at the two. She turned to James and Sirius, "Potter, Black" she said shortly.

"I like your head girl badge, it's shiny." Sirius said with a smirk.

"Oh sod off Black." Lily replied.

"Wait, Evans!" Sirius called as Lily began to walk away.

"What?" she asked turning to face them again.

"James has something he wants to show you?" he winked. She looked at them, considering for a moment.

"Don't care," she replied finally. James dropped Sirius and ran after her.

"Oh Evans, I'm pretty sure you care." he said sticking out his chest.

"I don't believe it," Lily gasped. She looked up at James with wide eyes.

"Believe it babe, you may not have noticed me growing up, but Dumbledore sure has." he replied grinning. Sirius, Remus, and Peter had disappeared onto the train, James began to walk towards it as well. Lily stared gaping at him. "C'mon partner," he said winking.

"It's a mistake, it has to be a mistake." she said furiously. Since Lily had started Hogwarts she had always planned on being Head Girl. She had worked hard for it, and James Potter was not going to ruin it for her, she would not let him.

Inside the train Remus and Peter followed Sirius down the crowded corridor looking for an empty compartment. They hadn't had any luck however.

"Everywhere's full," Peter whined from behind Remus.

"Don't be such a whiney little girl Pete, it's so unbecoming." Sirius replied, "Aha," he said stopping at a compartment door.

"You found an empty compartment?" Peter asked excitedly.

"Well no it's not empty, but I've found somewhere to sit." he said eagerly.

"Sirius Black, I swear if Severus Snape is in there I'm walking away now. You can't start bullying him now, we haven't even gotten to the school yet." Remus said sternly. Sirius grinned. Remus was quiet and usually went along with whatever James and Sirius did with nothing more than a look of disapproval. Then there were times, much like this one, where Remus absolutely would not stand for any of their crazy antics and would tell them so rather harshly. Sirius quite enjoyed Remus' little outbursts.

"Calm down Moony, I'd never attack Snivillus without James in tow. He'd be highly offended. It's Charlotte and Anna." Sirius said stepping aside so Remus and Peter could look in.

Remus recognized the two girls in the compartment as Lily's best friends, and his fellow Gryffindors, Charlotte Little and Anna Collins.

"I think I'd rather it be Snape." Remus said standing against the wall. Sirius barked a laugh, clearly he found Remus' misery funny.

Ever since their first year when Charlotte and Remus first met, she had had some sort of aversion to him. At first Remus tried to get her to like him, although it became increasingly harder with every rude remark and nasty glance she gave him. Eventually Remus came to dislike Charlotte as much as she disliked him.

"Ah, c'mon Moony, there isn't anywhere else for us to sit." Sirius groaned. He knew Remus and Charlotte had never gotten along, but couldn't understand why. He doubted even they understood it.

Sirius had grown up with Charlotte. Sirius' parents had hated Charlotte's family, as her mum was a muggle. The Blacks thought her father was an absolute disgrace and forbade their sons to associate with Charlotte, so naturally Sirius became best friends with her. In the years before they began Hogwarts, Sirius and Charlotte were hard to separate. Once they arrived at Hogwarts however, things changed. Sirius met James, Remus and Peter, while, Charlotte met Lily and Anna, and the two drifted. Every summer though, when it was just the two of them, they once again became inseparable. When Sirius ran away to the Potter's, he suspected things would never be that way again. So far he'd been right.

Sirius peered into the compartment. Charlotte and Anna were sitting across from each other talking animatedly. Charlotte was a small girl with dark hair that curled at the ends. She had bright blue eyes and always had a smile on her freckly face.

Anna was tall, blonde and curvy. She also had the best pair of legs Sirius had ever seen on a woman. He had expressed to his mates once, that Anna was his idea of perfect, they had all started at him like he was a complete nutter. It was true though, Sirius had never met a girl he liked to look at more. In their fourth year the two began snogging, which was all good and well until she decided that a snog buddy just wasn't enough. Needless to say Sirius broke that off real quick.

"Hello, Ladies," Sirius said opening the compartment door. The girls looked up from their conversation. Charlotte smiled at Sirius, while Anna rolled her eyes.

"Sirius!" Charlotte said jumping up and wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Can we help you with something Black?" asked Anna, ignoring her friend's lack of disdain.

"We just came to see if you girls had room in your compartment." Sirius said grinning. Charlotte and Anna exchanged a look.

"If you think the five of us in the tiny compartment won't result in tears, yelling, and/or hexes being thrown, then by all means, stay." Anna said smoothly. Charlotte sat next to Anna.

"Well, we can't promise anything." Sirius said winking. He sat down lazily across from them. Peter and Remus followed his lead. The silence that followed was deafening, the tension thick.

"This is weird." Anna said suddenly.

"What's weird?" Peter asked.

"I think the lady is referring to the tension just bubbling throughout the compartment." Sirius said brightly.

"Actually I had been referring to the fact that you were not speaking." Anna retorted.

"Ooh feisty." Sirius said with a twisted smile, "You know Anna, when you say things like that it just makes you like a trillion time more attractive to me." Anna sighed angrily and crossed her arms. Her glare was deadly, but just made Sirius smile wider.

"I'm going to go walk around." she said sounding quite flustered. They watched as she slammed the compartment door and stormed off.

"Well that was fun." Sirius said leaning back and stretching his legs out in front of him.

" Sirius did you really have to do that?" Charlotte asked, she had a slight smirk in spite of her disapproving tone.

"Well, it isn't my fault she's such a drama queen." Sirius replied grinning widely. Charlotte shook her head slowly at him. Peter snickered and Remus rolled his eyes, then pulled out a book. The plump lady pushing the trolley rolled by and Peter snuck out to grab some candy. Sirius opened his eyes and glanced around the compartment.

"I'm bored." he moaned loudly.

"Merlin's beard Sirius, you have the attention span of a two-year old." Remus muttered into his book.

"And you Moony have been spending waaay to much time with that Slughorn character in his little Slug club, I mean 'Merlin's beard' really?" Sirius replied standing and stretching.

"You've always been jealous Padfoot." Remus smirked.

"Psh, yeah me jealous of your Slug club, that's rich." Sirius said with a laugh. "C'mon Pete, let's stir up some trouble." he said pushing Peter out of the compartment door as he tried to reenter. Charlotte jumped up quickly.

"Sirius wait." she called, but he had already shut the door and was walking away. She sat down and began fidgeting with her hands.

"Is there a problem?" Remus asked coolly.

"Only that I'm stuck here withy you." she replied casually.

"Good one." Remus said sarcastically. Charlotte sighed heavily, then glared out the window. She glanced at him reading. He always had his nose in a book. In fact she was almost positive there were very few books left in the world that Remus Lupin hadn't read.

"What are you reading anyways?" she asked. Charlotte couldn't stand silence, it drove her mad.

"It's called a book, surely you've heard of them." replied Remus not bothering to look up.

"You know, I was just trying to make conversation Lupin." Charlotte shot. Remus glanced at her.

"As you can see, I'm a bit preoccupied." he said gesturing to his book.

"Ridiculous." Charlotte growled standing up. Sirius and Peter reappeared at the compartment door just as Charlotte opened it.

"Going somewhere?" Sirius asked a flustered Charlotte.

"Yes," she replied sharply. She pushed passed him and walked out into the hall. Sirius sat down from across Remus and Peter. He put his feet up on the seat and stretched out.

"So, which one of you ungrateful prats is going to thank me?" Sirius asked resting his head on the back of his hands. Remus looked up at him.

"Sorry?" Remus asked quizzically.

"Well, we didn't have a place to sit, and now we have a compartment entirely to ourselves." he grinned.

* * *

"I'll take those." James said sneaking up behind a second year Gryffindor. The young boy was holding an armful of dungbombs getting ready to set them off in a compartment of Slytherins. He looked up at James, terrified, and dropped the dungbombs where he stood.

"And I don't wanna see you trying to use anything like this again!" James shouted as the Gryffindor boy ran off down the corridor. He turned to Lily who was staring at him open-mouthed.

"Something wrong Evans?" James asked with a grin.

"Yes, you just took that Gryffindor boy's dungbombs, just before he used them on a group of Slytherins." Lily replied. She was shocked. The James Potter she knew would never have stopped a fellow Gryffindor from pranking Slytherins. In fact, the James Potter Lily knew, would very well hand a fellow Gryffindor dungbombs. Then again he'd probably just take matters into his own hands and torture the Slytherins himself.

"Well of course, they are banned." James said with a wink. "Though I don't see any harm in pocketing these in case of extreme emergencies." He put the dungbombs in his cloak.

"And, there it is." Lily said rolling her eyes.

"There what is?"

"I knew you couldn't possibly be doing something right for a change, I knew you hadn't actually grown up, Dumbledore is mad."

"Alright Evans, here, you take them." James said thrusting the dungbombs at her. She snatched them with a triumphant smile. James turned suddenly and stormed off down the corridor.

"Potter where are you going?" Lily called after him.

"I have Head Boy duties to fulfill, however if you'd like to stand in the corridor and argue over whether or not I've grown up at all, by all means lets, you know I'd go to any lengths to please you." James replied. He looked at her very seriously for a moment, then broke out into a great grin.

"Potter, I hate you." she said walking past him. He caught up with her quickly and smiled down at her.

"Give it time love," said James in a low voice. Lily snorted. "Don't you snort at me Lilykins, you just wait, it'll happen."

"You're an imbecile." she replied in complete awe.

"And one day Evans, mark my words, you will absolutely love me," James said ruffling her hair. He turned his back to her. "Oi, get a room!" he shouted to two Ravenclaws wrapped in a passionate snog. They broke apart quickly, blushing.

"I don't believe that's part of our jurisdiction." Lily said walking next to him.

"I'm head boy, nothing is out of my jurisdiction." he replied. Lily sighed heavily as James sauntered a few paces ahead of her. Dumbledore was not in his right mind when he appointed James head boy. Didn't he realize it would go to James' already humongous head? Didn't he understand that James already strutted around the castle like he owned it, and upon the appointment of Head Boy he would come to believe that he actually did own it? Clearly these thoughts had not crossed the good headmaster's mind. Lily would have to sit down with Professor Dumbledore and show him, in a very polite way so as not to offend him, that James Potter was not an ideal candidate.

"I'm speaking with Professor Dumbledore as soon as we arrive at Hogwarts about your position." Lily said in an off-handed tone. James whirled on her looking terrified.

"What?" he shrieked. "Lily you can't!" Lily eyed him suspiciously.

"You think Dumbledore made a mistake don't you?" she said slyly. He nodded slowly, "Well, so do I, which is why I must speak with him."

"This is absurd, obviously he didn't make a mistake, he's Albus Dumbledore, practically the greatest wizard ever." James said quickly, "In the off chance that he did make a mistake A.) He would've fixed by now and B.) I highly doubt that if he hadn't fixed it, he'd like some seventeen year old girl who's blind by hatred, telling him he's made a mistake." He ran his hand nervously through his hair and eyed her awkwardly.

"You have a point Potter, I doubt he likes being told when he's catastrophically messed up." Lily said nodding stroking her chin deep in thought.

"Besides I'm sure the lovely McGonagall has already pestered him all summer about his choice, he's no doubt heard enough." James said firmly.

"Of course, of course she's been trying to show him the error of his ways…but why hasn't he seen them?" Lily was talking to herself, James could tell. It was no use really. It would take some time for her to warm up to the idea of James being her partner.

"I forgot that the great Minerva McGonagall and her little protégé Lillian Evans are more intelligent than Albus Dumbledore, you know, the man with his own Chocolate Frog Wizard card?" James said sarcastically.

"Are you getting smart with me James Potter?" Lily's hands flew to her hips as she scowled at James.

"Of course not Lilyflower." James replied innocently. He batted his eyelashes and grinned stupidly. Lily rolled her eyes.

The two patrolled the train corridors for a while longer, bickering the entire time. James stopped suddenly in front of a compartment.

"Potter!" Lily said bumping into him.

"Sorry Evans, but it's my mates in there." James said excitedly.

"I swear, you four are like in love with each other." Lily sighed aggravated. James laughed and shook his head.

"No Lilyflower, I'm in love with you." he said gently tapping her nose with his forefinger.

"That's it, I'm done, I cant take another second of you." Lily said storming off. James grinned watching her walk away, then opened the compartment door and collapsed into the seat next to a sleeping Sirius. Remus was reading, Peter was eating, James was not surprised.

"Pads." he said jabbing an elbow into Sirius ribcage.

"Wussmater?" Sirius mumbled groggily.

"This is the year." James said proudly. Remus put his book down and looked at James skeptically.

"What are you going on about?" Remus asked.

"I agree with Moony, what are you going on about, and was it necessary to jab me violently?" Sirius asked rubbing his side gingerly.

"I am sorry about that," James replied patting Sirius' shoulder, "Anyhoo, this is my year mates, I can feel it."

"It's been your year for the past six years," Remus said blatantly.

"Hey now, let's be fair, at least three of those years were mine." Sirius said sounding genuinely offended.

"And surely you had a year in there somewhere Moony!" Peter chimed in.

"That only leaves me with two then!" James shouted clearly sensing an injustice. Remus groaned and his hand against his forehead.

"What I meant is that for the past six years, you and Sirius, have basically ruled the school, what's going to be different about this year?" he explained.

"Well for one he actually holds power now." Sirius pointed out.

"Oh boy." Remus sighed.

"Gentlemen please, I was not referring to my awesome popularity or the new power of Head Boy which has just been bestowed upon me," James said dramatically, "No, I was referring to the fact that this is the year that I win over the lovely Lily Evans." he finished looking triumphant. There was a brief moment of silence as Sirius, Remus, and Peter took in James' words. Then the compartment was filled with laughter, no one louder than Sirius.

"Sorry Prongsie, it's just, that'll probably never happen." Peter said doubling over.

"Why do I even bother with you lot." James crossed his arms and glared at his hysterical friends. The laughing and jokes continued as the boys changed into their robes, during their exit off the train, onto the carriages, and all the way up to the castle.

* * *

The Hogwarts students filled their tables in the Great Hall quickly, all ready for the feast that was about to begin. They watched patiently as the first years were sorted into each of the four houses. Dumbledore stood after the sorting and said simply: "Tuck in!", and the feast began.

Lily sat with Charlotte and Anna as far as could possibly be from James and his ridiculous friends. Her friends had been just as surprised as she had about James' new position as Head Boy.

"Surely something is wrong with Dumbledore." Anna said eyeing their Head Master wearily.

"Maybe he sees potential James, I mean, I don't know about you guys, but I saw a significant drop in the pranks pulled last year." said Charlotte softly.

"That's true, I hadn't thought of that." Anna said thoughtfully.

Lily glared down the table at him. He took a sip of his pumpkin juice and smiled at something Peter said. He always pretended to find humor in whatever Peter said, even if it wasn't remotely funny. Sirius whispered something to him, which made him throw his head back in laughter. Lily's stomach fluttered. He was an attractive young man, there was no denying that. Lily had become slightly aware that she was not the only girl in the hall watching him. She was the only girl that James noticed however. He met her gaze and grinned, then gave her a small wave. She could feel herself blushing, she could feel the smile creeping upon her lips, then she remembered who it was that she was smiling at. Lily scowled.

Down at James' end of the Gryffindor table, he sighed as Lily turned her entire body away from him. She propped her head on her hand so that all James could see was a curtain of thick dark red hair. What he would give to see her smile at him for once instead of scowl. James turned back to his friends and pretended to listen. Sirius was telling Remus and Peter about James' cousin who had stayed at the Potter's over the summer.

James couldn't talk to any of them about his feelings for Lily. They knew he wanted her, they knew he went to great lengths to impress her, they also knew she would have nothing to do with him. His friends, James knew, had always just assumed that James didn't actually have feelings for her, but that he just enjoyed the chase. But he wouldn't expect them to understand. Sirius was not a one woman man, he was too busy snogging any girl who walked his way to ever actually fall in love. As far as Remus went, he wouldn't know love if it came up and bit him on the nose. He never went looking for it, and James suspected he liked being alone. Peter couldn't get a girl if his life depended on it. Girls just made Peter nervous.

"Whatcha thinking about Prongsie?" Sirius said nuzzling his head into James' neck.

"Padfoot, what are you doing?" James asked moving sharply away from his friend. Sirius pouted playfully.

"Giving you loves Prongsie!" he grinned. James shook his head, but couldn't help smiling.

"Let's have it then, what were you thinking about?" Peter asked eagerly.

"What are you talking about?" James asked. He hadn't realized his momentary silence had gone noticed.

"You had that Prongs look, you know the one." Remus said poking at his food with his fork.

"Where you get all poised and distant." Sirius said imitating him. He sat up as straight as he could, cocked his head to on side and looked off at nothing.

"Right and your eyes go all glazed over." Peter added.

"And your mouth opens, tongue hanging out," Sirius said dropping his chin and let his tongue fall out of his mouth.

"I do not look like that." James protested.

"Alright, alright, maybe not the open mouth tongue part."

"Yeah, that's more of a Padfoot look." Remus said with a sly smile.

"Oi!"

"Well it is."

"At least I don't have a Moony look, do you know what a Moony look look's like?"

"Enlighten me."

Sirius proceeded to contort his face, snarling and growling. Remus rolled his eyes and flicked a forkful of peas into Sirius' "Moony face". Peter snickered as Sirius wiped his face, glaring at Remus. Remus smirked boastfully.

"Ladies, ladies, enough of this petty nonsense." James said raising his hands, "The feast is almost over." James scooped a large glob of jello onto his plate. The desserts had magically appeared seconds before.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Remus asked sounding bored. Sirius grinned at him devilishly.

"C'mon Moony, you remember our back to school ritual." Sirius said. Remus' eyes widened in horror.

"Ah hell, aren't we a little old for skinny dipping?" Remus asked shaking his head.

"Moony it's our last year!" Peter squealed.

"Which is all the more reason to jump into the lake in nothing but our birthday suits!" Sirius punched the air.

"I'll just meet you three back in the common room." Remus said.

"Nope." James said firmly.

"James, you're head boy now, none of this nonsense." Remus said, although he knew he had lost this battle. Nothing he could say would make them change their minds.

* * *

Charlotte Little loved coming to Hogwarts. The summer before she started school, her father had died, leaving her mother miserable. Over the years Hogwarts had become her escape. A place where she didn't have to think about how much she missed her dad, or how badly she wanted to see her mum smile again. She dreaded summers, except the time she spent with Sirius. After he ran off to stay with James, however, summers became absolutely unbearable.

The window seat which she sat at looked out over the grounds. She smiled as she remembered sitting by the lake with Lily and Anna. Dipping their feet in the water on a warm spring day. Charlotte could not be more grateful for Lily and Anna. The thing she appreciated most about her friends was that they never asked questions about her fathers death. They understood she didn't like talking about it and respected that.

Lily came into the dormitory wearing her pink bathrobe, her hair soaking. She sat next to Charlotte.

"What's up Charlotte?" she asked rubbing her hair into a fluffy white towel.

"Nothing." she replied. Lily narrowed her eyes, she knew Charlotte too well to know when she was lying. Charlotte sighed, "I was just thinking about how much I'm going to miss this place."

"Char, it's our first night back, we have months to worry about getting out into the real world." Lily smiled softly.

"C'mon Lils, you know as well as I do that it's ending fast." Charlotte replied. Anna's gray cat, Oscar, rubbed against Charlotte's leg. She picked him up and scratched behind his ears.

"I know, you're right. But there isn't much we can do except enjoy the time we have, right?" Lily asked giving Oscar a stroke under his chin. Anna burst in the dormitory looking quite flustered. Her face was bright red and her hair was a mess of blonde. She looked at Lily and Charlotte apprehensively.

"What have you been doing?" Charlotte asked grinning.

"That Kingsley Shacklebolt, now there's a good snog." she said running her hand through her hair. Lily rolled her eyes, Charlotte giggled.

"Anna, you want Sirius, why do you insist on snogging every other guy you meet?" Lily asked. Anna went to her trunk and pulled out a satin nightdress.

"C'mon Lils, do you honestly expect me to sit around pining for Black?" she said unbuttoning her blouse. "I mean I've gotta have some fun."

"You're barking," Lily laughed. She got up and also changed into her pajamas.

"Anyways, I've given up on him, it's all about Kingsley now, he's a real man." Anna said winking at Charlotte.

"You'll never give up on Sirius." Lily said shaking her head.

"Well I have," Anna said firmly. As Anna tried to convince Lily of her new feelings for Kingsley Shacklebolt, Charlotte turned back to the window. She could make out little in the vast darkness. She could see where the lake met the grounds, various trees, and a tiny light off in the distance that was Hagrid's hut.

Then, as she stared out towards the lake, she could make out figures. She counted four distinct black figures swimming close to shore. They had to be students. But who would be mad enough to jump into the freezing cold lake in the middle of Fall.

As if they had wanted Charlotte to see, one of them pulled out his wand and lit up the space around them.

"Sirius." she said looking out shocked at what she was witnessing.

"Sorry?" Anna said coming over to the window. She too looked out to the lake and gasped. "Lily, get over here." she motioned for Lily to join them.

"That's not, is it?" Lily asked gaping.

"Oh it is," Charlotte nodded.

"Potter, Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew, out for a midnight swim." Anna grinned evilly.

"Let's go." Lily said grabbing her wand. Charlotte and Anna followed.

* * *

The lake was definitely colder than it had been last year. However, Remus thought, it was not nearly as cold as it had been in their fourth year. It had been raining that year, and yet James and Sirius still insisted upon going in. They'd all had colds for weeks.

Remus often wondered why he even stuck around to feel the effects of their crazy ideas. Then the full moon would come around and Prongs, Padfoot, and Wormtail were the only ones in the world who mattered. They stood by him, helped him through the night. He'd wake up knowing that James and Sirius could put him through hell and they'd still be his best mates.

"M-maybe th-this was a b-bad idea." Peter shivered next to him.

"I concur" Remus nodded vigorously.

"C'mon boys! This is the most fun I've had all summer!" Sirius said slapping Remus on the back. James' head whipped around, his wet hair splattering them all.

"Sirius Black, I find that offensive." he said to Sirius.

"Oh c'mon Prongsie, all you did was talk about Lily. She's not even cute James." Sirius shook his head much like a wet dog. James sprung onto Sirius' back and wrapped his arm around his neck.

"Take that back dog!" James shouted.

"Oi, get off me, I can feel little Prongsie on my back…believe me, it's not pleasant." Sirius said trying to throw James off of him. Remus laughed. He dunked his head under the water hoping it would make him a little less cold. It seemed to work for James and Sirius. When he came back up he happened to spot three dark figures moving towards the lake.

"Hey, hey Pete, do you see that?" he asked Peter pointing to the figures.

"What is it Remus?" Peter asked nervously. There was a loud splash behind them and Remus knew Sirius had one this battle.

"Sirius, James, look." he said to his mates.

"What the-" but James never got to finish his sentence. The three figures had reached the pile of clothes the boys had left and snatched them up.

"We hope you won't be needing these." Lily's voice came from one of the figures.

"Evans!" James shouted.

"Bye Potter!" Lily dashed off behind the other two, who Remus could only assume was Anna and Charlotte.

"We have no clothes." Peter squeaked.

"Evans." James said again, Remus swore he was smiling. Lily could murder James' parents and he'd still smile for her. Remus would never understand.

"I've got an idea." Sirius said quickly. Without warning, where Sirius had once been, was a large black dog, his tongue hanging out as he panted.

"Padfoot! Go get em boy!" James said excitedly patting the dog on the head. He swam to shore before Remus could protest. Lily, Anna, and Charlotte weren't dumb. What if they figured out Sirius was the big black dog? What if they told McGonagall, or Dumbledore?

"This is a bad idea." he said quickly. James put his hand on Remus' shoulder.

"Sirius knows what he's doing." he said smiling, "You've got nothing to worry about."

Remus nodded, but he wasn't so sure.

* * *

"Oh man, did you see their faces!" Lily said catching up with Anna and Charlotte. They stood at a tree panting through their laughter.

"They're going to get us back, I know they are." Charlotte said shaking her head.

"We're just as smart as they are, we can take their silly pranks!" said Anna firmly. The bush behind them rustled and they all turned on it sharply with their wands out.

"Potter, come out and I'll hex you till next Tuesday." Lily said to the bush. The bush rustled again and out came a big black dog, much to their surprise.

"Oh hello," Charlotte said lowering her wand and holding out her hand for the dog to sniff. Lily held out her arm so Charlotte wouldn't move any further.

"Be careful Char, we don't know this dog, in fact I didn't even know the Forbidden Forrest harbored dogs." Lily said narrowing her eyes. He barked and leapt playfully.

"Aw, he's not dangerous." Charlotte said pushing past Lily and petting the dog. He rolled on his back and she scratched his tummy.

"Charlotte's right Lils, he's kinda cute." Anna said lowering her wand as well.

"I'm going to call him Snuffles." Charlotte said, "You like that name don't you?" she said to the dog. He jumped up and licked her face, then barked again. Anna moved closer, and he jumped on her.

"Down boy." she said trying to push him off. He barked, and Anna could swear he was laughing at her.

"Alright, Snuffles, we've gotta go." Lily said harshly. Snuffles growled at her.

"No, bad Snuffles!" Charlotte said angrily. He whimpered and licked her face, then jumped on Anna yet again. This time she tumbled over, with Snuffles on time. He licked her face repeatedly, his massive paws holding down her hands.

"Gethimoff!" Anna yelled as best she could. Lily and Charlotte could do nothing but laugh, the boys' clothes lay forgotten.

"C'mon Snuffles!" Charlotte said trying not laugh any harder than she already was. He looked up at her, then to the pile of clothes. Snuffles jumped off of Anna leaving her to wipe her face.

"What are you doing dog?" Lily asked as he sniffed the clothes. He barked, then grabbed as much as he could in his mouth and ran off.

"That was weird." Charlotte said standing next to Lily. Both looked after the dog in awe.

"I was just molested by a dog." Anna whined still wiping her face. Lily and Charlotte broke into laughter.

"I think he was in love." Charlotte said offering her hand to Anna.

"Looks like Kingsley has some competition." Lily said with a wink. Anna sighed and stormed off furiously towards the castle. Lily and Charlotte followed, giggling the entire way.


	2. Chapter 2

Sirius always woke up before Remus, James, and Peter. It was tough being the always happy, outgoing Sirius Black. The early mornings, while everyone was still asleep, Sirius would have time to himself, just to be alone.

The first day of classes was no exception to his daily routine. He woke up early. James snored softly in the bed next to his. Across the room Remus tossed and turned, he had a hard time sleeping. Next to Remus, Peter mumbled something about rotten carrots. Sirius grabbed his robes and hit the showers, taking as long as he pleased. He dressed quickly, it never took him long to get dressed, then headed down to the common room, where he'd sit alone for an hour, before his fellow Gryffindors started to wake.

Today however, the common room was not empty. As he descended the stairs of the boys' dormitory, he noticed someone was sitting on the sofa. She turned to face him, hearing his not so silent footsteps.

"My, my Sirius, you're up early." Charlotte said with a smile. That smile had drawn Sirius out of many bad moods. Even now, he could feel a grin of his own spreading across his face.

"I could say the same about you Lottie." he replied walking around the sofa to sit with her.

"You haven't called me that in ages." she said with a laugh. Sirius laughed as well.

"Charlotte, you screamed at me never to call you Lottie again, you may be small, but you're terrifying when you're angry." he elbowed her playfully.

"That's right, I did hate that nickname, I thought it sounded childish." she explained.

"I'm sorry, it slipped this time, it will never happen again." Sirius said with a wink. Charlotte looked down at her hands, then back up at Sirius.

"No, I miss it." she said with a sad smile. "Sirius I miss you."

"I miss you too." Sirius replied giving her a squeeze.

"I need to get ready for lessons." Charlotte said standing after a moment. She stretched her arms above her head, her pajama shirt rose exposing her tummy. Sirius' stomach gave a lurch. In all the years he'd known Charlotte he'd never looked at her as if she were a girl, and she was indeed a girl. A very pretty one at that, Sirius thought to himself.

As a kid, Charlotte's hair had been a mess of curls. Now they were long and billowy. Her freckles had once been one of Sirius' favorite things to pick on, now Sirius thought they looked rather adorable framing her deep blue eyes. Sirius had always thought of her as a chubby little kid. Looking at her now, however, he had clearly missed her grow up.

"Lottie," he whispered amazed at his sudden realizations.

"Yeah?" she asked looking down at him.

"I love you." he said slowly. She smiled.

"Aw, I love you too Sirius." she said bending over and kissing him on the cheek. With that she bounded off, up to the girls dormitory.

"Not exactly what I meant." Sirius sighed to himself. What exactly had he meant? He wasn't so sure. Charlotte was beautiful, she was smart, funny, and his best friend even before James. He'd always loved Charlotte, always.

"Piddle-paddle!" James sang behind him. He jumped and spun around quickly. James stood behind the sofa stark naked save a small towel wrapped around his waist.

"Prongsie! Don't call me that." Sirius beamed, " And I thought Lily politely asked you to refrain from walking around the common room in the buff."

"Did she now?" James asked cocking his head to one side.

"She sure did Jamsie." Sirius said standing, he shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Ah yes, I remember," he replied smiling wistfully, "Pretty sure she wasn't polite in the slightest, though."

"Well, I thought I'd try and make the memory a little more pleasant for you." Sirius grinned.

"Aw, who's my best mate?" James asked punching Sirius' shoulder playfully. Sirius began to jump up and down.

"Ooh ooh me!"

The portrait hole opened and Lily stepped into the common room, fully dressed and running a brush through her thick red hair. She halted as she took notice of the scene before her. Sirius watched in shock as Lily's eyes made their way up and down James' nearly naked body. He coughed and Lily pulled her gaze off of James and onto Sirius. Her face reddened as she realized he had caught her.

"Evans, you're looking lovely today, as usual" Sirius said with a wink. She glared at him, but turned her attention back to James.

"Potter, didn't I tell you to stop frolicking around the common room in just a towel." she shot angrily.

"Oh, shall I take the towel off?" James inquired. He moved his hands to the towel ready to spring into action.

"POTTER!" Lily shouted shielding her eyes. Sirius and James laughed as Lily looked up hesitantly to find the towel still intact.

"I'm sorry Lily Flower. I only assumed you enjoyed seeing me naked, seeing as you stole my clothes last night." James said merrily. She started at him in utter shock. This was it, Sirius was witnessing the moment where James finally won one.

"Please Potter, I wanted to see what Black over there is hiding under his robes, from what I hear it's spectacular, I just grabbed everything I could find to make sure I got a glimpse." Lily had composed her self completely and rattled that one off as smooth as ever. Sirius dared a glance at James, he needed to appraise the damage that had been caused. Sure enough James had a dejected look across his face. Best mate time, Sirius thought.

"Really Evans, there's not much to see here." Sirius said pointing to himself. "But as you can see over here," he waived his hand over James, "Jamesie here is smokin. And please don't pretend like you didn't notice, I saw you sexing him up with your eyes." Sirius winked.

"Black!" Lily shrieked.

"I think I hear some toast calling me." Sirius said quickly. He grabbed the arm of Peter who had stumbled downstairs seconds before, fully dressed but still half asleep.

"Where we goin?" he asked dazed.

"Breakfast Pete!" Sirius replied pulling him out of the portrait hole. Lily glared at the portrait hole, then at James.

"Potter, for Merlin's sake, go and put some pants on, or I will have to hex you." Lily said slowly. James could tell she was beyond angry, when she was beyond angry she no longer yelled.

"Yes ma'am." he said turning around to head upstairs.

"Morning James, Lily." Remus said as he passed James on the stairs.

"Moony, why are you still in you jammies?" James asked.

"Why are you starkers?" Remus replied.

"Lily likes it." James winked.

"Potter." Lily growled.

"Well, I'm off to the Prefect's Bathroom." Remus said briskly.

"Bloody Hell! Why didn't I use the Prefect's bathroom?" James said hitting his head.

"Because you're a raging idiot." Lily said sitting at one of the tables.

"And you want a piece of this raging idiot." James said cheekily.

"Pants! Now!" she snapped.

"Just pants then?" James asked with a grin. Lily didn't even respond, she simply glared the most hateful glare she could muster. James felt his heart leap, she was stunning, even when angry. "Very well, fully dressed it is." James said bounding up the stairs.

Lily made sure James was out of sight, then dropped her head on the desk in front of her. Sirius had caught her, she had indeed been staring at James. It hadn't been intentional, she had just been caught off guard. This had not been the first time James had walked around the common room practically nude. In previous years James had just been a scrawny boy trying to impress girls. It had never worked however, for there was nothing to be impressed by. James was no longer scrawny. In fact, when Lily had walked in on Sirius and James, she was sure she was looking at someone else.

She groaned remembering his bare chest. He was slender, yet defined. She thought of the thin trail of hair running from his belly button down past the towel. Past the towel…

"Snap out of it Evans!" Lily said sitting up abruptly. She looked at the magical watch Anna had bought her and cursed. They were going to miss breakfast if Anna and Charlotte didn't hurry up. Lily took the stairs two at a time and swung the girls' dormitory door open.

"We're going to miss breakfast!" said Lily annoyed. Charlotte was on her stomach playing with Anna's cat Owen, while Anna sat on her bed putting on her make-up. Neither looked up at Lily, they were used to her dramatic outbursts.

"Someone's chipper today." Anna said sarcastically.

"Shut up Collins." Lily retorted.

"Well I'm ready, do you want to meet us down there?" Charlotte asked Anna.

"Grab me an apple would you?" was Anna's reply. Charlotte nodded and pushed herself up off of the floor. She followed Lily down the stairs and into the common room. They walked in silence down to the Great Hall.

Lily stopped at the entrance of the Great Hall and glared down the Gryffindor table. James was sitting with Sirius, Remus, and Peter. Sirius seemed to be mocking something Remus had just said, James shook his head, but laughed regardless.

She watched as James ruffled his hair. He was under the impression by keeping his hair untidy it made him look more attractive. At least that's what Lily thought must be going through his mind whenever he messed up his hair that way. She had to admit to herself that it did give him a sort of windswept look. Like he'd just finished Quidditch practice. He always looked so much more confident while flying, Lily thought fondly. Not the kind of confidence he had on the ground. On the ground he played up his confidence, tried to make himself seem more bold. In the air, though, he had real genuine confidence. Anyone could see he belonged on a broom, and he knew it.

"Lily, you're staring at Potter." Charlotte hissed shaking Lily back to reality.

"Merlin's beard! Did he notice?" she asked turning away quickly, grabbing a seat and some toast. "Er, I don't think so, but Lils," Charlotte began. She paused, giving Lily a nervous look.

"What? What is it Charlotte?" she snapped.

"Well, it's just, you kind of had this dreamy smile on your face." Charlotte said softly, avoiding eye contact with Lily.

"No." Lily gasped. Charlotte nodded. "Bollocks!" she whispered furiously.

"Lils, what's going on?" Charlotte asked. Lily glared at her then let out a long sighed.

"Alright, I'm going to tell you, but this is between you and me, just us." replied Lily in a low voice.

"Ok." Charlotte said with a short nod. Lily looked around to make sure no one was listening, then leaned over the table between them. Charlotte followed her lead, and also leaned in.

"I find myself becoming very attracted to Potter. I mean look at him, he's gorgeous!" she said in a rush. Her hand clasped over her mouth the instant the words were out. Charlotte stared at Lily utterly dumbstruck.

"Please say something." Lily groaned after a few moments. Charlotte opened her mouth, closed it, opened it, then closed it again. She gulped.

"Lily, do you fancy him?" Charlotte asked

"Absolutely not!" Lily shrieked, staring at her friend in horror.

"Well, it was a safe question to ask." shrugged Charlotte.

"Honestly." Lily hissed disapprovingly. She picked up a piece of toast and spread a thick layer of marmalade over it. She was vaguely aware of Charlotte eyeing her warily, but tried to ignore it. James and his friends had gotten up and were striding towards her and Charlotte. Lily groaned and dropped her toast.

"Good morning Miss Little, what have you and my little Lilykins been discussing?" James asked sitting next to Charlotte. Sirius took a seat on the other side of her, while Remus and Peter flanked Lily. Charlotte gulped and looked up nervously at Lily. Lily cursed herself for telling Charlotte. Charlotte was the worst liar Lily had ever met. She always tried to cover for her friends, but whoever she was lying to could see right through her.

"We were…er…the dog!" Charlotte sputtered. James looked curiously from Charlotte to Lily while Sirius barked a laugh.

"If I didn't know better I'd say Little is trying hide something." James said narrowing his eyes at Lily. "Is she Lily Pad?"

"Stop with the pet names Potter," she snapped, "Anyways, what Charlotte is referring to is the dog we met last night trying to steal your clothes." Lily explained. Remus shifted uneasily in his seat.

"Do tell." Sirius said resting his head in his hands looking quite interested.

"Well, he came out of the Forbidden Forest and took of with your clothing." Lily replied sounding bored.

"Was he adorable?" Sirius asked grinning fondly.

"He was huge, but he was cute, I named him Snuffles." Charlotte said after taking a bite of toast.

"I thought he was annoying." said Lily.

"How rude." Sirius scoffed. Remus kicked him sharply under the table.

"I'll bet he was annoying." Remus said through gritted teeth as Sirius' eyes watered with pain.

"Anywhoo, did you lovely ladies here about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?" James asked changing the subject hurriedly. Lily and Charlotte replied by shaking their heads.

"He's supposed to be really good." said Remus standing.

"Where ya goin Moony?" Sirius asked, recovered from his leg injury.

"Some of us don't want to be late for lessons on our first day back." Remus replied.

"Silly fools, who would ever consider going to class on time!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Actually Pads, I think Moony here is right." James said sound rather unsure of himself. Everyone stared at James incredulously. James Potter had actually gone against Sirius Black. Lily was sure the world was ending. Sirius snatched James' class schedule out of his hand.

"Would you look at that, we both have Transfiguration now, I can't wait to see my lady love." he said brightly. Sirius stood and began walking out of the Great Hall. The rest were all too stunned to follow.

"Is he angry?" Peter asked nervously.

"No," James said staring after his friend, "No I can tell when he's angry."

"Bizarre, he didn't even mock you a little." said Remus with a look of awe.

"You're all mad." Lily said rolling her eyes.

"Just a tad." Charlotte added with a nod. She and Lily followed Sirius.

"C'mon lads!" James said marching forward, Remus and Peter close behind. Peter bade them farewell as they turned towards Transfiguration. He had not passed his O.W.L therefore was not taking the class with them. He ran off to Muggle Studies instead.

They found the class empty, except for Sirius who sat in a seat second row from the front. He swiveled around in his chair to face them as they entered.

"What took you lot so long? I've been waiting." he asked. James and Remus glanced at each other.

"Sirius, are you feeling alright?" James asked apprehensively.

"Of course I am Jamsie" Sirius replied with a grin, "I have accepted that you are now Head Boy, and as such you will need to start coming to class at an ungodly hour as well as lay off the pranks." he explained. James patted him on the shoulder.

"Let's not be rash Padfoot, no one said anything about laying off on the pranks." James winked at Sirius.

"That's what I'm talking about." Sirius grinned leaning back in his chair.

"Idiots." Lily said shaking her head and taking a seat in front of Sirius. James nabbed the seat beside her before Charlotte could even move.

"Get away from me." Lily said looking straight ahead.

"Nope." James smirked.

"Fine, I'll move." Lily said standing.

"Where you gonna sit Lils?" James taunted. The class was already filling with students, many of the seats were taken. Sirius had a tight grip around Charlotte's waist, not allowing her to get up and move. She smiled and shrugged.

"Sorry, Lily, Sirius won't let me go." said Charlotte. Lily sighed furiously, then moved to sit next to Remus.

"I wouldn't sit here if I were you." he said looking up at her.

"And why's that Lupin?" she asked.

"I'm feeling a bit peekish," he said simply. He let out a highly suspicious cough, but Lily didn't argue. He did look pale and she wasn't about to take any chances. Lily caught sight of Anna sitting alone in the back and strode over to her.

"Thank Merlin, I thought I was going to have to sit next to Potter." Lily breathed taking the seat next to her friend.

"Er, Lils, I'm sorry but I was kinda saving that seat." Anna said slowly.

"For who?" Lily shrieked.

"Kinglsey." Anna replied. Lily didn't say a word as she rose from the seat and headed back to the seat next to James.

"Looks like you're stuck with me." James said triumphantly.

"Of course there's always Snivlly over there." Sirius leaned forward and nodded to Snape. James snapped around and gave Sirius a flick on the nose.

"What is wrong with you?" he asked through clenched teeth. Charlotte giggled as Sirius stared at James, half shocked, half hurt.

"Sorry James." he said rubbing his nose.

"Don't apologize to me." James said crossing his arms.

"I'm sorry Lily, I shouldn't have brought him up." Sirius mumbled. Lily was stunned. James had not only punished Sirius, but had gotten him to apologize for his wrongdoing.

"Alright class, settle down." said Professor McGonagall sweeping into the classroom. Sirius' hand shot into the air before McGonagall could say another word.

"Yes, Black?" she said exasperated.

"Oh, I just wanted to tell you how lovely you look Professor, the summer has been good to you." he replied grinning broadly.

"Is this your way of asking me for a detention Black?" she asked stiffly.

"Only if you're willing to give me one, you know I love our time alone together." Sirius winked.

"I do not have time for this, detention Black!" McGonagall snapped.

"Yes!" Sirius said punching his fist in the air.

"I'm sure Slughorn would love your help sorting out his potions ingredients." McGonagall smirked.

"You're a sneaky little devil, one of these days though, you'll confess your love for me." Sirius said shaking his head.

"Out of my classroom Black." McGonagall said.

"Fine, I'll see you tomorrow love." he said standing. He gave her a wink, then strode out of the classroom. The rest of the class tried to conceal their laughter, while many of the girls watched him exit with a dreamy look in their eyes.

McGonagall continued with the beginning of class, explaining that their lesson for the day was to be human transformation.

"Now let's see, I'll pair you all up and you can practice on each other." she said scanning the room. "Evans, you'll be with Diggory." she said pointing to Lily then to Amos Diggory, a handsome young man from Hufflepuff.

"Thank God." Lily sighed shooting a glance at James.

"Yeah, yeah, I know you want me." James said winking at her.

"Please Potter." she snapped. She grabbed her things and walked over to Amos who stood waiting for her.

"Potter, I'm going to have you partner up with Shacklebolt, but will you please make sure Black understands and practices the lesson after class?" McGonagall asked James.

"I knew you cared!" Sirius cried, his head poking in the door.

"Oh good, you actually stayed and listened, let's see, come work with Snape." McGonagall said with a menacing smile.

"I'm good out here, James and I can practice later." Sirius replied quickly.

"No, no Black, clearly you wanted to be a part of this lesson, come now." she said beckoning him with her hand. Sirius trudged forward glaring at Snape.

"Professor why must I be punished for Black's misgivings?" Snape asked rudely.

"You will practice on each other and if either of you does anything other than Transfiguration I will have both of you in detention for the rest of the year." McGonagall said firmly.

"Yes Professor." the boys mumbled in unison. James snickered as they walked by to find an empty space to practice. Nearly all of the students had been paired off. Charlotte sat in her seat waiting patiently. She had hoped to be paired off with Anna or Lily. When that hadn't happened she had hoped against hope to paired with anyone other than one of the Slytherins. Then she caught sight of the only other person left without a partner.

"Miss Little, Mr. Lupin, you two will work together." said McGonagall.

"Professor, couldn't I help Sirius and Snape?" Remus asked quickly. McGonagall glanced over at the pair. Sirius was looking more and more like a female, with long blonde hair and big eyelashes. While Snape's nose was much larger then it had been a few moments ago.

"Perhaps, but where would that leave Miss Little?" McGonagall said thoughtfully.

"I could work with James and Kinglsey." Charlotte piped in. The two boys were in the corner. James had managed to transfigure Kinglsey beyond recognition, James had always been one of McGongall's best students. Kingsley on the other hand had hardly made any difference in his partner at all.

"I'm sorry you two, but the NEWT level Transfiguration class is supposed to prepare you all for your future careers, as well as life in the real world. And frankly in life you will have to work with people you don't necessarily enjoy, so off you two go." McGonagall said sternly. She turned her back on the two and began walking around the classroom giving pointers.

Remus and Charlotte stood awkwardly for a few moments, neither knew how to handle the situation.

"Would you like to start?" Charlotte asked.

"Ladies first." Remus offered.

"Please, after you." Charlotte replied.

"Charlotte just go." Remus said impatiently.

"Well, you don't have to be rude about it." Charlotte said raising her wand. Remus had been known to hold every feeling he had inside himself. He was rarely seen angry, and when he did get angry it was only ever at James and Sirius. Remus hardly ever yelled, and he wouldn't be caught dead crying.

In the moment after Charlotte's snarky comment, something inside Remus snapped. He and Charlotte had always been at odds. But since their first year Remus had suppressed the desire to hex her brains out every time she said some rude comment or a cheeky remark. He had held in seven years of anger and frustration at the fact that she loathed him for no reason whatsoever.

Remus raised his wand, and in the seconds before Charlotte did whatever transfiguration she was about to do on him, he waved his wand. Everyone in the class was now staring at Remus. Across form him was no longer Charlotte, instead a small black and white rabbit twitched it's nose and hopped in a small circle.

"No way." Remus heard James from behind him. Remus looked around at his classmates. They all looked at him stunned. Lily moved to Charlotte the rabbit and picked her up.

"What did you do?" she asked Remus breathlessly.

"She's fine, she's just a rabbit." Remus replied nervously.

"What is going on over here?" Professor McGonagall asked striding over to the scene.

"I er transfigured Charlotte into a rabbit." Remus mumbled. McGonagall raised her eyebrows at him.

"Well, that is very impressive indeed, we weren't meant to cover human to animal transfiguration for another couple of months at least. You will be awarded ten points to Gryffindor as well as detention." McGonagall told him.

"Er Professor, why the detention?" Remus asked scratching his head.

"You turned your classmate into a rabbit Mr. Lupin." she replied. Remus nodded shortly. "Now Miss Evans, please put Miss Little down and I will gladly change her back."

Lily set Charlotte on the ground and with a wave of McGonagall's wand, Charlotte was back to normal. She looked around the classroom, stunned for a moment, then fixed an angry glare on Remus.

"_Petrificus totalis!" Charlotte shouted. Remus dropped to the floor._

"_Detention Miss Little." said McGonagall, "Class is dismissed for the day, your homework is to practice human transfiguration, however if any of you abuse it the punishment will be severe." _


	3. Chapter 3

The common room had been quiet all morning. With all the students busy with classes, the fire roared for no one, the chairs sat unoccupied. Remus and Charlotte were the first to enter, voices raised in a heated argument that broke the peaceful silence. Followed closely and anxiously behind them were Sirius, James, and Anna. The group had just come back from Herbology. Lily was in Arithmancy, while Peter was stuck at Care of Magical Creatures.

Sirius, James, and Anna all took a seat on the large sofa in front of the fire and stared up at Remus and Charlotte. The two had been fighting since yesterday's Transfigurations class, took a break to sleep, then picked up again the very next morning. The fight had gone way past Remus turning Charlotte into a rabbit, and was now roughly in the area of why Charlotte hated Remus, a fight nearly everyone in Hogwarts had heard.

"When will this end?" James whispered to Sirius and Anna.

"James, this has been going on for seven years, I don't think it'll ever end." Anna sighed.

"Too true, well I'm out," James said standing and walking up to the boys' dormitory.

"He's got the right idea." Anna said walking in the opposite direction to the girls' dorm.

Sirius sighed and sat back making himself comfortable. He knew it was probably extremely wrong to enjoy watching Charlotte and Remus argue, but he had his reasons, and they were good too. At least he thought they were.

When he and Charlotte had been young, she had been feisty, playful, and quite the little arguer. After her father died, however, something in Charlotte had died with him. She became quiet, reserved, and lost her spark.

Sirius usually felt like the old fiery Charlotte was gone forever. And then Remus would say or do something, or sometimes even just walk into the room, and they'd start fighting. Their bantering would go on for hours and Sirius could see the passion flow through her. For whatever reason, Remus made Charlotte's blood boil, and Sirius enjoyed watching the spark return to her eyes.

"You just think you're so much better then everyone else." Charlotte shot, pulling Sirius out of his head.

"How can you possibly know what I think? You don't even know me." Remus replied.

"I don't care to know you Remus." Charlotte retorted.

"Well if that isn't the most obvious statement of the century." said Remus dryly. Charlotte glared at Remus for a moment then turned on her heel and stormed off to the girls' dormitory.

Remus sighed and flopped down into the seat beside Sirius. He ran a shaky hand through his hair. He hated arguments. Arguments were his second least favorite things, falling shortly behind full moons which were easily the first.

"Well, looks like you won that one mate." Sirius said patting Remus on the shoulder.

"How do you figure?" Remus asked.

"You had the last word, isn't that usually how it works?" he replied.

"I suppose," Remus nodded, "But I'd rather not have words at all. At least not words like that." he added.

"I know mate, I wish I could help." Sirius said giving his friend a sympathetic look.

"I shouldn't have turned her into a rabbit." Remus shook his head. Sirius barked a laugh.

"No, that probably wasn't the smartest idea you've ever had," Sirius replied, "She made a cute rabbit though didn't she?"

"Sirius?" Remus gave Sirius a confused look.

"I've been thinking," Sirius started.

"Oh dear." came James' voice from behind them. He sat between Remus and Sirius.

"Ha, you're so funny Potter," Sirius said sarcastically.

"Yes yes, I know. Now what were you saying about thinking?" James asked.

"Right lads, I've been thinking that I think maybe I could possibly or more likely very probably be somewhat very in love with Charlotte." Sirius rambled. James' mouth fell open while Remus considered Sirius with a confused expression.

"Sirius, that made very little sense." Remus said after a moment.

"You're right," Sirius sighed, "I'm in love with Charlotte. In fact, I'm pretty positive I always have been," he said firmly.

"Surely you aren't serious." James said looking baffled.

"Actually Prongsie I am. In more ways than one." Sirius said with a wink.

"Clever," Remus said rolling his eyes, "Listen if you really think you're in love with her, then there's really only one thing you can do isn't there?"

"What's that?" Sirius asked.

"Tell her obviously." Remus sighed shaking his head.

"Right of course. Except, look how well that turned out for James." Sirius said grinning.

"Oi I resent that!" James protested.

"James and Lily is an entirely different situation. She's always hated him. You and Charlotte are actually friends. If you've loved her for this long, who knows, maybe she's harbored some secret feelings for you as well." Remus explained.

"One can only hope." Sirius sighed. An ominous gurgling sound came from Sirius' stomach "Ooh, my tummy is telling me it's time for lunch." he said jumping up. "Come lads! Food awaits!"

Charlotte and Anna descended the stairs, preparing to go to lunch themselves. James grabbed Anna's arm.

"Oi, Anna, I have a question for you." he lied quickly. Charlotte and Sirius waited at the portrait hole patiently.

"Sirius why don't you go ahead, we'll catch up later." Remus said trying to give Sirius a hint. Sirius stared at Remus, confused for a moment.

"Oh right!" he gasped finally understanding, "Let's go Lottie, we'll meet them down there." he grabbed Charlotte's hand.

"Um, ok, I'll see you down there then." Charlotte said to Anna before disappearing through the portrait hole with Sirius.

"Do you think he really loves her?" James asked Remus.

"Excuse me, who loves who?" Anna piped in.

"Of course not James, don't be ridiculous." Remus replied shaking his head.

"Anything is possible." James suggested.

"Hello? What is going on?" Anna asked.

"Sirius does not love Charlotte, James." said Remus.

"Sirius loves Charlotte?" Anna asked.

"No, he only thinks he does," Remus replied.

"Well, he could love her," James said.

They all turned to the portrait hole as Lily walked in looking rushed. She stopped as soon as she saw them, giving them a confused look.

"Why are you all still up here, it's lunch?" she asked.

"We were just leaving." Remus smiled.

"Sirius loves Charlotte." Anna said quickly.

"Sorry?" Lily raised an eyebrow at the three.

"I have wasted seven years of my life trying to get that wanker's attention, and he's been in love with Charlotte the entire time." Anna shrieked.

"And that's our cue." Remus said nudging James towards the portrait hole.

"We'll see you ladies down there." James said smiling. He snuck a kiss on Lily's cheek as he passed her.

"Potter!" she yelled pulling out her wand. He was gone before she had the chance to hex him, laughing all the way.

* * *

Charlotte stared at Sirius with mixture of awe and confusion. After knowing him for nearly all her life, she could've sworn the only person Sirius was in love with was himself. On top of that, she'd always gotten the impression that, while he snogged an awful lot of a girls, he was indeed batting for the other team; she had never known a man to spend so much time on his appearance.

"Are you going to say anything?" Sirius asked, shaking her out of her trance.

"Yes, I am," she replied slowly. Sirius waited expectantly.

The fact of the matter was that Charlotte was not in love with Sirius. She regarded him as a brother. She was well aware of how gorgeous he was, and she'd heard from Anna that his "skills" were superb. Any girl would kill to be in Charlotte's position, but Charlotte would've killed to be anywhere else.

"Sirius, you're like family to me, like my brother." she said looking at her hands.

"That's what I thought too until I really thought about it." Sirius replied.

"When did you decide that you were in love with me?" Charlotte asked narrowing her eyes.

"Er, yesterday morning. In the common room." he said after thinking for a moment. Charlotte didn't think she could get anymore shocked than she was right now.

"And what made you come to this realization." she asked.

"Well, you looked all sexy like in your pajamas, and I felt like I wanted to snog you." he replied shamelessly.

Charlotte stared at him for a moment, not quite able to speak. Then without warning she began laughing hysterically.

"Great, now you're laughing at me." Sirius said crossing his arms.

"Yes, I am, because you are the biggest idiot I've ever met." Charlotte said suppressing her giggles. "You are extremely confused."

"Offensive," Sirius said shaking his head.

"Listen, you love me like a sister, but we aren't actually related, so it's ok for you to find me attractive. You've mistaken you're feelings Sirius." Charlotte explained.

Sirius considered what she said for a moment. She had a point. But Sirius was rash, and never listened to reason.

"I'll prove my love is real!" Sirius said excitedly.

"It isn't." Charlotte replied simply. "Look, I'm hungry, let's walk." she added beginning to walk towards the Great Hall.

"Good idea, I'm hungry too." Sirius said following her.

"Did you hear? Anna has been asked to be the new captain of the quidditch team." Charlotte said casually.

"What? I thought James for sure would've been asked." Sirius said outraged. He stopped abruptly and narrowed his eyes at Charlotte. "I see what you're doing. You're trying to change the subject, sneaky little minx."

"Sirius, don't be such a twit, I was just making conversation." she sighed.

Sirius grabbed her arm and turned her towards him. He backed her slowly into the wall behind her, and cleared his throat.

"I love you." he said in a husky voice.

Charlotte looked up at him with her big blue eyes. Sirius grinned as she placed her hands on the sides of his face. She licked her lips, Sirius' knees buckled. Charlotte stood on her tiptoes, her lips brushed lightly against his ear.

"Sirius," Charlotte whispered.

"Yes?"

"You don't love me." she said flatly. Charlotte ducked under Sirius' arm and walked off towards the Great Hall.

"Ooh she's good." Sirius grumbled. He debated going to back the Gryffindor common room for a cold shower, then decided he could handle it, and trailed after Charlotte.

* * *

The Great Hall was buzzing when Sirius walked in. He scanned the Gryffindor table and found Charlotte, Lily, and Anna a few seats down from Remus, Peter and James. Sirius strode over to his mates and sat across from them.

"She doesn't believe me." he said grabbing an apple.

"Neither does Moony." James said with an unprecedented amount of food in his mouth. Sirius looked up at Remus.

"Moony I'm insulted," he said mockingly.

"I just think you're being a little rash is all." Remus replied keeping his tone nonchalant.

"Do be honest with yourself Padfoot, you have always been a bit rash." Peter said.

"And you, my little Wormy, have always been a bit obnoxious." Sirius said patting Peter on the head. Peter looked down at his hands with a sad look.

"Sirius." James reproached.

"Ah, I'm just taking the mickey out of you Petey." Sirius grinned.

"Of course." Peter mumbled.

"Alright, so you lot think I'm being rash?" Sirius said circling back on topic.

"I think you're mistaking lust for love." Remus explained.

"Funny, she sort of said the same thing." Sirius said scratching his chin.

"What, you mean Lupin and Little agree on something?" James gasped.

"Impossible." Charlotte said from behind James and Remus. Remus rolled his eyes and stood.

"I'll see you all in Defense Against the Dark Arts." he said knocking into to Charlotte's shoulder as he passed her.

"Watch it Lupin!" Charlotte called after him.

"Alright Lottie, I'm going to show you right now that I love you." Sirius said standing. He heaved himself up upon the Gryffindor table and pointed his wand to his neck.

"Sirius what on Earth are you doing?" Charlotte hissed.

"Ladies and gents, can I please have your attention!" Sirius' voice rang out through the Great Hall.

"Stoppit, this isn't happening." Charlotte said covering her face with her hand. The entire hall was now focusing on Sirius.

"I know many of you lovely ladies will be disappointed, but I have an announcement to make," he continued ignoring Charlotte.

"What is he doing?" Anna asked coming to stand next to Charlotte with Lily at her side.

"Being an arse." Charlotte replied forcefully.

"I would like you all to know, that I, Sirius Black, am in love with Miss Charlotte Little." he said gesturing his hand to a bright red Charlotte.

"Oh for goodness sake's." Charlotte spat leaping up onto the table beside him. "You do not love me, and I shall prove it to you."

Charlotte stood on her toes and grabbed Sirius into a kiss. It seemed as if the entire room had gone silent. All eyes were on Sirius and Charlotte's locked lips. The kiss lasted only seconds, but to nearly every girl in the room, it lasted decades.

Charlotte pulled away from Sirius and stared up at his dumbfounded expression.

"Did you feel anything at all?" Charlotte asked half exasperated.

"Nope." Sirius replied shaking his head.

"I told you." she said smiling with relief. Sirius grinned and cleared his throat.

"Sorry ladies and gents, false alarm!" Sirius shouted to the Great Hall. There was a grumble of confusion and sigh of relief from the female population as the students went back to eating. Sirius grabbed Charlotte into a hug.

"Sorry about all that." he whispered into her hair.

"I forgive you, but next time you should try listening to me." she replied hopping off the table.

"And Remus." James piped in with a wink.

"Shut up Potter." Charlotte snapped.

"Alright you lot, let's get to class." Lily said rolling her eyes and snatching up her things.

"Sure thing Lily Flower!" James said.

"I will murder you Potter." Lily yelled angrily.


	4. Chapter 4

So I deleted the first three chapters of the story and re uploaded them in a more friendly format. Sorry if there was any confusion. Thanks for reading!

* * *

It was nearly three o'clock in the morning. Lily sat at a table in the Gryffindor common room pouring over her arithmancy homework. It had only been a week into lessons, but the professors were already laying it on thick.

She brushed the tip of her quill across her nose and sighed. Normally Lily, Charlotte, and Ana did homework and studied together, it helped pass the time. Lily was the only one left taking arithmancy, however, leaving her to do the homework all on her own.

She yawned as sleepiness began to take over. Lucky it was a Friday, she was incredibly excited about sleeping in for a change.

"Just a little nap." she said to herself folding her arms on the desk in front of her. She was just about to rest her head on top of them, when she heard someone from the boys dormitory groan in agony. Lily waited for a moment, listening for whoever it was to make that sound again, but it didn't come. She packed up her things and started up towards the girls dormitory when the groaning started up again.

Lily sighed and looked up towards the girls' dormitory longingly. She wanted nothing more than to go up to bed, but the groaning was becoming more constant and Lily simply could not ignore it. She trudged up the stairs and followed the noise straight to the boy's bathroom. James was on the floor of an open stall hovering over the toilet.

"James?" Lily asked tentatively. James turned around and smiled feebly.

"Oh, hello Lily, I'd like you to meet my new girlfriend, her name is Toilet, she's quite lovely, you'd like her." James rambled weakly.

"Very pretty James," Lily nodded, "Are you alright?"

"Sure," James replied, "If you could just hold on for one moment." he added turning back to the toilet and throwing up.

"Oh James," Lily sighed kneeling beside him. Lily grabbed and handful of tissue paper from the roll beside her. "Here." she said handing it to him when he finally lifted his head.

"Thanks Evans." he said wiping his mouth.

"Do you want me to take you to the hospital wing?" Lily asked softly.

"No," he said shaking his head, "Pretty sure I just ate something funny." James once again turned his attention to the toilet bowl in front of him. Lily gently rubbed his back, waiting for him to finish.

"Evans, what are you doing? You don't have to stay." James asked.

"I know I don't have to stay. I also know that when I'm sick it's nice when there is someone to take care of me." Lily replied. James gave Lily a lopsided smile.

An hour later James lifted his head out of the toilet and leaned his head against the wall behind him. He closed his eyes and breathed heavily. Lily waited quietly.

"I think it's over." he said finally.

"C'mon James" Lily said standing.

"Where are we going?" he asked looking up a her.

"To bed, you need your sleep." she smiled offering her hand. He nodded and took hold of it, pulling himself up with her help.

Lily draped his arm over her shoulders and snaked hers around his waist. James let her lead him into the boys dormitory already half asleep.

"James, where are Sirius, Remus, and Peter?" Lily asked helping him over to his bed.

"Oh, er, Remus' mum was feeling ill, he won't be back for a few days. Sirius and Peter accompanied him on his train ride." James mumbled. He took pride in the fact that he could still come up with some pretty decent lies even on his deathbed, because that was of course where he currently was.

"I don't believe you." Lily said firmly. She gently removed his glasses and put them on his nightstand.

"You don't have to." he replied.

"Fair enough." she nodded. "I'm going to go to bed now, goodnight Potter." she said turning to leave.

"Evans wait." James said grabbing her hand, "Please stay, just until I fall asleep." He knew he sounded like a whiney child, he knew it probably wasn't helping him win Lily over, and if his head wasn't about to explode he probably would've cared.

Lily considered him for a few moments then sighed.

"Oh fine." she said sitting next to him, her head against the headboard and her legs stretched in front of her.

"Thanks Evans." he said releasing her hand.

"How's your stomach?" she asked softly.

"Better, but my head is probably going to blow up, you might want to watch out for that." he replied.

"You're so dramatic Potter." Lily laughed.

"Lily, I am seriously going to die tonight, I don't think you understand the severe nature of this situation." said James.

"Right, well, do you have any messages you'd like me to relay for you?" Lily asked gently massaging James' head . She smiled, baffled that James could still be his annoying James self, even when he was horribly sick.

"Yes," James nodded, "Please tell my dear parents that I'm sorry I could not produce grandchildren in sufficient time, also add that it's truly your fault since you're the only girl who can withstand my boyish charms, yet the only girl I want."

"Don't pin your failures on me Potter." Lily said smiling.

"Shh, there isn't much time left. Tell Sirius he truly is a gorgeous man and I wish we could've had more time together." James continued. "Let Remus know that he cannot have a satisfying relationship with books or chocolate and that he really must begin dating real life girls. Lastly tell Peter…Er…you can make something up, you're good with words." he finished with a wave of his hand.

"You are not dying James." Lily said rolling her eyes.

"Maybe you're right." he sighed, a smile playing across his lips. Lily continued to intertwine her fingers through his messy hair and softly stroke his head as he slowly drifted off. He looked peaceful and Lily longed to know what he was dreaming.

"You know, you're kind of cute when you sleep." she whispered.

"Thanks Lily, you're kind of cute always." James mumbled.

"James, you weren't asleep?" Lily groaned.

"I was pretty close, your angelic voice woke me." he grinned.

"You're such a prat." Lily said standing.

"A sickly prat, please stay, I promise I'll go to sleep." he said quickly.

She looked down at him and sighed. The last thing she wanted to do was stay. Lily did not want to be around James anymore then she had to. James gave her a small smile and her stomach did a back flip.

"Oh fine, move over." she said crawling into the bed beside him.

"Thanks Evans."

* * *

James Potter loved many things. He loved his parents, he loved his mates, he loved Lily(even if the feeling wasn't mutual), and he absolutely and unconditionally loved Quidditch. So when he woke up the next morning, the morning of Quidditch tryouts, alone, with no Lily in sight, his heart didn't fall quite as much as it normally would've. His head was clear and his stomach felt completely back to normal, if not a little hungry.

He glanced around at his mates. Sirius was snoring loudly, one leg covered by blankets the other hanging off the bed. Remus was curled up beneath his covers, as usual, while Peter had rolled onto the floor. He knew that last night had been a full moon, apparently it had gone smoothly. Moony always had preferred Padfoot over Prongs. James convinced himself it was their canine background and tried not to let himself get too jealous.

He hopped out of bed, ready to face the quidditch tryouts head on, knowing he didn't have to worry much.

"C'mon Padfoot, time for Quidditch!" James said jumping onto his best friend's bed and singing into his ear.

"Go away you noisy little prat." Sirius said swatting James in the face.

"Not even your case of the morning grumpies can get me down, Pooch." James said jumping onto Sirius stomach.

"Oh my God you are so annoying." Sirius groaned.

"You love me. Let's go, c'mon. Or Anna will give your Beater position to some other ugly sod, and I will be heartbroken. My flying will be horrible, I'll lose my focus. Gryffindor will never win the house cup again!" James said flailing his arms about dramatically.

"He's right Sirius, his life would be a meaningless black hole without you." Remus mumbled from his bed.

Sirius looked up at James who nodded excitedly.

"A black hole, my friend. Completely void of anything."

"Fiiiine, now get off me you twit. I need to get ready." Sirius sighed pushing James off his bed.

"It's Quidditch, Padfoot. Not the prom." James said getting dressed.

"The what now?" Sirius asked.

"Prom. It's some sort of muggle dance. I heard Lily telling Charlotte and Anna about it. Guess it's a big deal. All the girls get dressed up in fancy dresses, and the boys wear ties and such." James explained, "Last spring, during Easter holiday, she helped Petunia find a dress. She seemed pretty disappointed that she would miss hers."

"The girl's a bloody witch!" Sirius said in disbelief.

"Yeah, well, I'm sure she misses things about being a muggle." James shrugged.

"But she can do magic!"

"We've grown up with it, it's different for us."

"But she can do magic!"

"You're hopeless." James shook his head.

"Says the boy who spies on Lily and eavesdrops on her conversations."

"Hey! She knew I was there." James said clearly lying. "Speaking of Lily," he said perking up a bit, "She slept in my bed last night."

"Liar, you were alone when we came in this morning." Sirius said shaking his head.

"Well she must've left after I fell asleep." James said quickly.

"James you were sick, you probably hallucinated it." Remus mumbled.

"Yeah that's it!" Sirius agreed.

Oi! I did not hallucinate it!" James said chucking his pillow at Sirius.

"Whatever," Sirius shook his head, "I'm off to the shower." he said hopping out of bed.

"Sirius, Quidditch, you don't need a shower." James reminded him begrudgingly.

"Prongs, the ladies, gotta look good for them." Sirius said mocking James' tone.

"He wouldn't want to ruin his reputation James." Remus said still half asleep.

"Go back to bed you cranky old werewolf." Sirius said shoving a pillow over his face as he passed his bed. Remus removed the pillow and chucked it the back of Sirius' head, missing by nearly a foot. "Nice aim!" James shouted.

"That's why I'm not on the quidditch team." Remus said rolling over. Peter snored loudly from his bed, having slept through the entire debacle.

"That kid could sleep through the end of the world." James said with a sigh. Remus didn't respond however, for he was already asleep.

James picked up his pillow off the floor and went to put it back. He stopped dead as he found a piece of paper folded where his pillow once had been. He picked it up and unfolded it gingerly. James smiled as he looked at Lily's soft handwriting that flowed across the page.

_Potter,_

_Hope you are feeling better. You better not tell anyone I slept in the same bed as you, in fact I think it's best that we keep this night to ourselves. I wouldn't want people thinking I actually cared about you or anything. I'll let you in on a little secret though, I actually enjoyed taking care of you last night. You aren't such a prat when you're sick. _

_L.E._

James grinned, now he had proof that Lily slept in the same bed as him, and on top of that enjoyed taking care of him. He was just about to wake Remus again and show him Lily's note, when it dissolved into thin air. He looked down at his empty hands.

"She's good." he said smiling to himself.

* * *

Nearly an hour later(Sirius had taken quite some time on his hair), James and Sirius joined the rest of the old Quidditch team along with some new hopefuls for tryouts.

"Alright kiddies listen up, here's how this is going to work, I want chasers over here, keepers here, seekers over there, and beaters right in front of me, we'll start with you folks." Anna shouted to everyone.

"C'mon Anna, you know you're going to put me on the team, must I really go through the tryout process?" Sirius asked in a bored tone, as

"With the beaters Black!" Anna barked.

"I like a woman who can give orders." Sirius said with a wink.

"Leave the pitch Black."

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, here I go, with the beaters."

"Thank you."

After a long, grueling tryout, many protests, a fist fight involving none other than Sirius and James verses a sixth year chaser hopeful named Scott McLaggen who had pissed Sirius off, and a lot of shouting on Anna's part, the Gryffindor Quidditch team was safely in place.

Anna, James, and a sprightly fourth year named, Ryan Belmont took the Chaser spots. Sirius was granted his beater position back, but not without a lecture from Anna about keeping his mouth shut during practice, unless of course he had an amazing tactic idea, then he was allowed to tell James who would tell Anna. A big burly kid named Bear Jones, joined Sirius as a beater. Charlotte, who had been playing seeker since her third year would be reprising the role. The keeper position was filled by a tall sixth year girl who was quick on her broom and had unparalleled hand-eye coordination, named Jesse Blake.

"Alright team, our first practice is Tuesday evening at six o'clock sharp. I'll see you all then." Anna said breaking the team.

"I told you, you'd put me back on the team." Sirius said as he, Charlotte, Anna, and James all walked to the broom shed.

"Yeah, well, you're a bloody good beater. But don't get too excited, if you piss me off once you're off the team." she warned.

"Empty threats my love." Sirius winked.

"You're off the team." Anna replied simply.

"I was only joking." Sirius laughed nervously as they reached the broom shed.

"Of course you were." Anna said brightly, stowing her broom next to Charlotte's.

* * *

They had reached the Great Hall, which was abuzz with students eating lunch. James and Sirius broke off to sit with Remus and Peter.

"Oh, there's Kingsley." Anna said, spotting her on-again-off-again boyfriend.

"Are you back with him?" Charlotte asked.

"I sure am." Anna squealed with delight, "Say hi to Lils for me." she said skipping off.

Charlotte spotted Lily eating with their friend and dormitory mate Mary, and strode over to the two. Mary was a nice girl, but her best friend was in Hufflepuff, so she was usually at their table.

"Hey." Charlotte said sitting on the other side of Lily.

"Hi Charlotte." Mary said smiling.

"How were Quidditch tryouts?" Lily asked.

"Really well, we have three new players, all are really talented." Charlotte said making herself a turkey sandwich.

"James still on the team?" Lily asked. Charlotte could tell she was trying with much effort to sound nonchalant about it, she failed miserably. Even Mary noticed.

"I thought you hated him?" Mary asked.

"Oh I do, he's a complete prat, but can you imagine how much worse it would get if his pride and joy was taken away?" she asked waving it off. "I mean he'd mope around the school for ages, I doubt he'd ever get over it."

"We, get it Lily." Charlotte said cutting Lily off before she could continue.

"You know, I was partners with him last year in potions, he wasn't all the awful. Sirius Black, now he's the real problem." said Mary.

"It's Lupin. He's the one with all the ideas. James and Sirius wouldn't cause nearly as much mayhem without the help of Lupin." Charlotte said crossly.

"You're off your rocker. Remus is the nicest of the bunch." Mary said shaking her head.

"I loathe that boy." Charlotte seethed.

"He did turn her into a rabbit." Lily said defending her friend.

"Well, I don't see it. Anyways, I told Lucy I'd meet up with her after lunch." Mary said referring to her Hufflepuff friend.

"Alright. Talk to you later." Lily said as Mary walked out of the Great Hall.

"Am I the only one who sees just how obnoxious Remus is?" Charlotte sighed picking at her toast.

Lily looked at her friend sympathetically and nodded.

"Yeah, I think so." said Lily.

"You know, Professor Prewett asked him to help me with the patronus charm." Charlotte said looking at Lily miserably.

"Oh Char, I'm sorry." Lily said giving Charlotte a light squeeze.

"It's fine, I should get going actually, we're supposed to meet in twenty." Charlotte said beginning to stand.

She was about to leave when a flurry of owls swooped into the Great Hall. A small brown owl fluttered to her and dropped a letter on the table in front of her.

"It's from my mum." Charlotte sighed answering Lily's questioning look.

Lily nodded and turned to her own letter and the issue of the Daily Prophet her owl had brought her. She knew Charlotte didn't share much, unless Charlotte openly expressed a need for Lily, she knew Charlotte would want to read that letter alone.

"I'll catch you later Lily." Charlotte said absentmindedly.

Lily watched as she walked away, head bent over her letter. She silently prayed that whatever Charlotte's letter was about, that it was positive. With Charlotte spending time with Remus, the last thing she needed was bad news from home.

* * *

James and Sirius quickly grabbed their seats next to Peter and Remus, then without skipping a beat, began shoveling food onto their plates.

"Hungry are we?" Remus asked raising an eyebrow from behind his book.

"We missed breakfast because someone's hair was falling the right way." James said looking at Sirius pointedly.

"The ladies Potter, when will you learn. They need me to be beautiful always."

Peter laughed so hard at this, that pumpkin juice actually came out of his nose.

"Delightful Pete." Sirius said looking at him with disgust.

"Listen, James, I've been thinking about that prom thing." Remus said setting his book down.

"Prom?" asked Peter, having missed the earlier conversation.

"It's a muggle dance Pete, where guys like me dance the night away with my many admirers, while guys like you struggle to find a date and end up taking the chubby girl with spots on her face." Sirius explained.

"Yes, and then you sleep with one of these so called admires, and in a month's time she comes to you with the news. You've knocked her up! Congratulations Padfoot on becoming a teenage dad." James said excitedly.

"Sod off." replied Sirius tearing into a piece of ham.

"If you'll kindly remember, I was saying something." said Remus.

"Oh yes Moony, please by all means, continue." James said cheerfully.

"Well I was thinking, that if you wanted to get Lily's attention, maybe you could throw her a prom." Remus explained.

"Brilliant my man!" James exclaimed.

"I do try."

"Ok, so what's the plan?" James asked Remus.

"Oh no, I don't think so mate. This ones on you. I gave you the idea, now you need to follow through." Remus said shaking his head. "Besides, I'm off. I've got to try and teach Little how to conjure a patronus, though I'm not hopeful." Remus sighed.

"Do try not to turn her into a rabbit!" Sirius called after Remus. Remus sent a rude hand gesture his way, and Sirius grinned.

"Alright men, we've lost Moony, but I think we can think of something good." said James.

"I think not, what say you Peter?" Sirius asked.

"Er." Peter said looking at Sirius half shocked.

"Good lad." Sirius said clapping his hand onto Peter's shoulder, "Now let's sneak into Hogsmede and get us some fire whiskey, my stash is running dangerously low." he said dragging a terrified looking Peter out of the Great Hall.

"Good friends I have." James mumbled to himself. "Useless, the lot of them."

"Maybe they don't want to associate with a mad bloke who talks to himself."

"Evans?" James said in complete shock. He turned to see Lily standing beside him.

"Yep, it looks like all of our friends are otherwise occupied and I decided we should probably spend some time together since we have all these new Head duties." Lily said sitting next to him.

James nodded, in utter awe.

"I got your note, good one." James said, trying very hard to keep his cool.

"What note?" Lily asked with a smirk.

James could sense that it was going to be a good day.

* * *

Charlotte crumpled her mother's letter and threw it hard against the wall in the corridor. Letter was an exaggeration, what her mother sent her was a waste of paper. "Hope start of term is going well" hardly classified as a letter in Charlotte's mind.

She leaned against the wall and began to cry. Her father's death had been hard on everyone, especially her mother. While the family slowly came to terms with it and began to move on with their lives, Charlotte's mother stayed in a world of darkness. She was inconsolable, and Charlotte hated it. It was her mother's job to be strong and to take care of Charlotte, instead it was the other way around.

After a moment or two she wiped her eyes. This behavior was unacceptable. The more she cried the more she was like her mother, and that would never be alright. She stood and grabbed her things. She was hardly paying attention to where she was going, when she ran into someone was paying equally as much attention to where they were going.

"Oof." she grunted losing her footing.

"Woah Lottie, watch where you're going." Sirius said grabbing Charlotte by the waist and bringing her upright.

"Sorry Sirius. Hey Peter." Charlotte said nodding to Peter.

"Hey Charlotte." Peter said looking at his feet.

Sirius looked at his friend and noticed her eyes were watering and her nose were red.

"Hey Pete, d'you mind meeting me in the common room? I need to ask Little a question." Sirius said grinning at Peter.

"Er, yeah, of course." he said with a nod.

Sirius watched as Peter walked away, then turned his attention to Charlotte.

"Now Charlotte, you wouldn't be crying would you?" Sirius asked draping his arm around Charlotte's shoulder.

"Letter from my mum." Charlotte replied.

"Ah, I see." Sirius said with a nod.

"She didn't even say anything really. It's like she doesn't even care." Charlotte continued.

She laughed bitterly as the tears started up again.

"And then I start crying, and all I can think is that I'm going to end up like her." she looked up at Sirius, her eyes turning sad, "Sirius, I don't want to be weak like her."

Sirius could almost feel his heart breaking into a million pieces. He pulled her into his chest, wrapping his arms tightly around her.

"Listen Lottie, you're not like your mum. You're not because you've moved on. You smile, you laugh, you make others happy. It's ok to cry my love. You've been through enough to earn that right, so don't feel guilty about it." Sirius said softly.

Charlotte pulled away and looked up at him with a sad smile. He thumbed the tears from her face and brushed her hair back.

"Thank you Sirius." she smiled

"Sleeve?" Sirius asked holding out his robbed arm. She laughed as he began to wipe away her tears.

"I'm going to be late." she said nudging him to walk.

"For?" he asked.

"Remus." Charlotte groaned.

"Ah that's right, well, I would say keep your mind open, you're different person around him Lottie." Sirius said.

"What?"

"Well, I've noticed that when you're with Remus you're a strong, fiery girl, no signs of weakness anywhere." Sirius said with a wink.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked off whistlin_g, l_eaving Charlotte standing in the corridor pondering his words.


	5. Chapter 5

"Moony, Moony, Moony, Moony."

Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter were all sitting in a far corner of the library. Remus was pouring over a large pile of books. James was leaning back in his chair staring off to another corner of the library. Peter had fallen asleep and was drooling over the book he had been reading. Sirius sat with his chin resting on his arms folded in front of him, chanting Remus' name in a bored tone.

"What is it Sirius?" Remus asked finally.

"I'm well bored." Sirius groaned.

"No one is keeping you here." he said, his eyes darting across his book.

"Why did you come a long anyways?" James asked keeping his attention across the room.

"I was bored then too." Sirius replied. "What about you Jamsie, I suspect you didn't come along to study."

Sirius followed James' gaze and grinned seeing Lily alone at a table surrounded by books and parchment. James glanced at Sirius who was grinning at him goofily. James sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Alright, so I wanted to see Lily, are you really surprised?" he said messing up his hair.

"Relax James, I was just joshing you." Sirius said with a pat on James' back, "Why don't you just go talk to her? Aren't you two friends now?"

It was already the middle of October and things had changed drastically for James. Lily and James had been spending more time together due to their Head Boy and Girl duties. By some miracle they had actually became friends. And although James was incredibly grateful for their friendship, he wanted more, he would always want more.

"Yeah, we're friends," James sighed, "But I don't want to be just friends."

"Well, what makes you think she wants to be just friends?" Remus asked.

"I-Er I'm not sure." said James looking at his friends excitedly.

"Here's an idea mate, why don't you ask the lovely Miss Evans to accompany you to the Halloween party?" Sirius suggested.

"Good idea." James whispered enthusiastically.

"Go!" Sirius said pushing his friend out of his seat.

James nodded to Sirius then strode over to Lily's table. She glanced up and gave a him a small smile as he took the seat next to her.

"Hello Potter." she said.

"Lily." he replied grinning.

"It is a rare sight to see you in the library." Lily smirked. "What brings you here?"

"Well," James started slowly, "You."

Lily looked up from her books, her face slightly flushed.

"I was going to ask you a question Lily." James said quickly.

"Alright, go ahead." she replied.

"Well, after the Halloween feast Sirius, Remus, and I are throwing a little soiree in the Room of Requirement." James started.

"A soiree huh? How do you boys come up with these things?" Lily laughed.

"Well, it was Sirius' idea really. He thinks the Halloween feast is a little too juvenile for us grown ups." James replied.

"And do you think it's a good idea for Head Boy and a Gryffindor prefect to be playing hosts?" Lily said raising an eyebrow.

"Oh c'mon Lily, you and I both know this isn't the first party we've thrown. And if I'm not mistaken you have been present at everyone, even sometimes under the influence." James winked.

"Okay, okay, shut up." Lily hissed glancing around the room anxiously.

James chuckled. Lily glared at him and hit his arm.

"Anyways," James said shaking his head, "I was wondering, we've been spending a lot of time together and I was noticing that you don't seem to hate me as much anymore. What my point really is, is will you accompany me to the Halloween party?" James asked trying to keep his voice steady.

Lily glanced at James awkwardly and James's heart plummeted into his stomach.

"Listen, James, I'm really excited that we've been able to become friends and I really value that." Lily started softly, "The thing is, I just don't see you in that way." she said sadly.

"Well, Lils, you haven't exactly given me a chance." James laughed nervously.

"I actually have spent a lot of time thinking about it." Lily said taking one of his hands in hers, "I think we're great as friends."

"Right, of course." James said tearing his hand from hers.

He stood and ran his hand through his hair.

"James I'm so sorry." Lily whispered.

"I'll talk to you later Evans." James said turning away.

He walked right past his friends not wanting to admit failure just yet, though he knew his face showed his emotions as clear as day.

"I'm going to kill her." Sirius said glaring at Lily.

She had gone back to studying, though she did look considerably more somber.

"We don't even know what she said." Remus said trying to calm his friend.

"I don't need to, did you see James' face?" Sirius growled.

"Actually no, I've been studying." Remus replied.

Sirius scoffed at his friend shaking his head. Sometimes Remus could be so oblivious, James clearly needed them and all he cared about was his books.

Sirius glanced over at Lily again who was now accompanied by an annoyed looking Charlotte. Lily seemed to be telling Charlotte her story, then Charlotte asked a question and Lily pointed to their table. Charlotte glanced over and stood glaring at Remus,

"Er, Moony?" Sirius said quickly.

"Yes?"

"Were you maybe supposed to do something other than studying today?" Sirius asked.

"Nope." Remus replied.

"Oh, Charlotte must be storming over here for no reason then." Sirius said grabbing one of Remus' books and ducking behind it.

Remus looked up horrified and watched as Charlotte crossed to their table. She slammed her books down, causing Peter to jerk awake.

"Do you know how long I waited for you Lupin?" Charlotte snapped.

"Er, well seeing as we were supposed to meet up an hour ago, I'm going to with an hour." Remus replied.

"Bad answer Moony." Sirius whispered from behind his book.

"Who do you think you are? Do you really think you can just let me wait around for you?" Charlotte asked incredulously.

"Well…I mean…you did wait." said Remus.

"Here, take this shovel, it will help you dig your own grave." Sirius said handing Remus a mini shovel he had just conjured up.

Remus glared at Sirius and pushed his hand away.

"Look, I forgot. Or maybe I don't really care. Either way I wasn't there, so you decide." Remus said to Charlotte.

"Too busy writing your essay?" Charlotte said glancing at the parchment in front of him.

"Yes." Remus said nervously.

Without warning Charlotte snatched up his ink bottle and poured it all over his essay then slammed it down in front of him.

"Oops. Sorry." Charlotte said before grabbing her things and storming out.

Remus stared at his essay open mouthed, while Sirius shook with silent laughter. Peter was laughing behind his hands half in shock.

"Should've kept your mouth shut mate." Sirius shrugged.

"I can't believe she did that." Remus said coming out of his shock.

"Well it's nothing you can't fix right?" Sirius asked stifling his laughter.

"Of course I can fix it, that isn't the point, I just can't believe she did that." Remus replied.

"Well Moony, I've known you known you a long time and I've known Charlotte even longer, if you ask me, I think there is some sexual tension between the two of you, if you know what I'm saying." Sirius said elbowing his friend.

"You are utterly ridiculous." Remus muttered trying to fix his essay.

"I see it." Peter giggled.

Remus looked up at both boys who had become stricken with fits of laughter. Madam Pince was beginning to give them angry glances.

"Get out, both of you." Remus said in the calm voice Sirius knew meant business.

"Alright, alright, we're leaving. Hold your panties." Sirius grinned standing.

Remus watched as his two friends giggled all the way out of the library. He couldn't believe how intuitive Sirius was. Remus remembered meeting Charlotte on the train, he remembered even at eleven years old thinking she was the prettiest girl he'd ever seen. She hated him the minute he spoke however, so he let his feelings go and never spoke of them again. He had mostly convinced himself that they would never be friends, it was easier to take her insults that way. How Sirius had picked it up on his attraction to her, he would never know.

* * *

"Some party." Sirius sighed in a bored voice.

He glanced around the Room of Requirement. A few people were already drunk, most everyone else was standing around chatting about boring things that didn't interest Sirius in the slightest.

"Where's James?" Peter asked scanning the room.

"Not here yet, said he has a surprise." Sirius replied monotone.

"Well, his surprise isn't Lily is it?" Peter asked nodding his head to a couple occupying a sofa in the far corner of the room.

Sure enough Lily was all pretzeled up with some guy Sirius didn't recognize. Damn her, she could've at least warned James. He was bound to be moody all night.

"I loathe that woman." Sirius sneered.

"Relax pup, she's not worth it." said Remus.

He had been sitting next to Peter and Sirius with his nose in a book. Sirius couldn't believe the nerve of his mate, reading was not usually on the list of things one does at a party.

"Did you really bring a book?" Sirius asked annoyed.

"No, its all in your head." Remus smirked.

"You're in for it now wolf boy." grumbled Sirius. "Oi Charlotte!"

Charlotte, who had been chatting to some Hufflepuff boy, glared at Sirius, but strode over to him anyway.

"Seriously Black? I was sort of in the middle of something." she hissed angrily.

"No, Charlotte, it's Sirius Black, Sirius. There's no 'ly' at the end." Sirius said shaking his head.

Charlotte crossed her arms and glared down at him.

"What do you want?"

"Well, my friend Remus here says your arse looks huge in those jeans." Sirius replied casually.

Remus gulped and looked up at a very angry Charlotte. She snatched the book from his hands and began to walk away.

"Wait where are you going with that?" Remus asked shrilly.

Charlotte waltz straight up to the refreshment table and dropped his book into the giant bowl of punch, then turned to grin.

"Next time you have something to say about my arse, it better be 'Her arse is the loveliest damn thing I've ever laid my eyes on' or else it'll be you doused in punch, not your book." Charlotte sneered.

She turned forcefully and walked back to the Hufflepuff boy, who apparently had seen the whole thing and was doubled over laughing.

"Well that was easy enough." Sirius said leaning back in his chair.

"You know Sirius, a simple, 'Remus please put down your book' would've sufficed." Remus said angrily.

"Well yes, but that was infinitely more fun." Sirius grinned.

"I need a drink." Remus sighed.

He stood and walked over to the table that Sirius has decorated with alcohol bottles. He grabbed an entire firewhiskey bottle and returned to the table. Sirius and Peter stared in shock.

"Moony, you don't drink firewhiskey." Peter said in awe.

` "Tonight I do." he replied dryly.

"Hello boys!"

The three boys turned to see James standing above them holding out a platter and grinning from ear to ear.

"Where the bloody hell have you been?" Sirius asked returning his mate's grin.

"I made brownies." he said putting the plate on the table in front of them.

He grabbed at seat as Peter examined them.

"Are these regular brownies?" Peter asked nervously.

Last time James had made brownies Peter had been so excited he had eaten half the batch, he soon learned never to eat a James brownie without knowing all the ingredients.

"Of course not lad, these are my special brownies." James replied heartily.

"Good man!" Sirius shouted.

"Is this your surprise?" Remus asked dully. He was on his fourth shot.

"No, well part of it." he replied. "I saw Evans, she could've at least let me know she was coming with someone else." James looked around at the two bitterly.

"Yeah well, I'm pretty sure she's an evil demon sent to lure men into her evil demon trap, then rip out their hearts and eat them." Sirius said glaring at them.

"Or she's just Satan herself." Remus suggested pounding another drink.

"I appreciate it mates." James grinned at them. "Moony, don't you wanna slow down there?"

"Nope."

Sirius and James exchanged a glance. If they didn't do something quickly Remus would be drunk in a room full of mostly sober people. They needed to kick this party up a notch. James scanned the room looking for an idea.

"Oi! Bear!" James shouted to his Quidditch teammate.

Bear Jones was a big guy, with probably the most mild temper of anyone James had met. He was muggle-born, the only wizard in a family of four boys. He often told stories of his eldest brother who had gone off to some Ivy League university in America. James knew Bear would have some ideas.

"What's up Potter?" he asked.

"Take a seat friend." Sirius said kicking a chair out for him.

He sat with a confused glance at Remus who was still pounding back shots.

"Listen, this party is kind of slow," James started.

"Yeah, I've noticed." Bear smirked.

"Thanks heaps Bear." Sirius said dryly.

"Anyways, we need to liven this party up a bit," said James, "I remember you mentioning your brother went to one of the fancy pants schools, tell me, has he passed on any party knowledge?"

"Yes, because that's all he learns at that fancy pants school, how to party." Bear replied sarcastically.

"Not what I mean Bear." James said quickly.

"I know, I know." Bear laughed, "I actually may have an idea." he said considering for a moment.

"Any idea is a good idea." Sirius said glancing at Remus. He had finally taken a break, good thing too, for he was swaying in his chair a bit.

"Well my brother and his friends play this game, it called Beer Pong. You're gonna need tables though, and ping pong balls." Bear explained.

"Ping pong balls?" Sirius scoffed. "What are ping pong balls?"

He didn't have to wait long for his answer. Two large tables had appeared on either end of the room accompanied by cups and of course ping pong balls. Groups began to gather around looking curiously at the tables.

"Alright mate, get explaining." James said to Bear with a pat on the shoulder.


	6. Chapter 6

It didn't take long after Bear's introduction to the world of Beer Pong for the party to get going. An hour later James and Sirius were dominating one of the beer pong tables. Peter was huddled in a corner with a fifth year Hufflepuff and a seventh year Gryffindor with James' plate of brownies. Remus was on his third game of beer pong at the other table. He and Bear had partnered up and were almost as good as James and Sirius. Anna had finally showed up bringing music along with her. People were now scattered about dancing, waiting to play beer pong, snogging and in general having a good time.

"Good party mate." James said to Sirius, dunking a ball in to the opposing team's cup.

"Well I'll say. Tell me what was the rest of your surprise?" Sirius asked.

"James!" came a squeal from behind the two.

James and Sirius both turned to see a group of people were entering the party, headed by an extremely tall girl with long curly red hair and bright blue eyes. The group of people scattered, but the girl walked straight up to James and planted a large kiss smack on his lips.

"Sirius, I'd like you to meet Giselle." James said pulling away with a grin.

"Why hello gorgeous." Sirius said taking her hand and kissing it gently.

"It's so good to finally meet you, I've heard so much." Giselle said in a seductive sort of way.

"All good I hope?" Sirius asked.

"Only the best." she winked.

"Alright you two." James cut in, "Giselle would you like something to drink?" James asked.

"Why yes, please." she replied.

"Oi! Potter, Black, it's been your turn for ten minutes now!" called one of the boys from the opposing team.

"Oh right, give me one second Giselle." James said, "Padfoot, let's take em out."

Sirius nodded, then both boys threw their ping pong balls right into the other team's two remaining cups.

"Tough break lads." Sirius said grinning.

* * *

Remus was cursing his luck, as he held Bear up by the waist, half carrying him from the table. Bear stumbled along, keeping most of his weight on Remus.

"Who knew you could hold so much liquor." Bear mumbled beside Remus.

"Yes well, it takes a lot for me to become intoxicated, I'm almost there though, no mistake." Remus sighed setting Bear down on one of the sofas.

"Thanks mate." Bear said laying his massive body across it.

Remus was about to ask if he was okay, but a sharp snore from Bear's mouth told him he didn't have anything to worry about. So Remus went in search of more firewhiskey.

He turned quickly and walked straight into Charlotte, much to his horror. She tumbled to the ground and looked up at him.

"Little, I'm so sorry." he said bending over quickly to help her stand.

Then, by a mighty stroke of luck, Charlotte burst into a fit of hysterical laughter.

"You walked right into me!" she giggled.

"Uh, yeah, I guess I did." Remus said with a nervous chuckle.

"And then, then I fell!"

Remus nodded curiously looking her over. He noticed she was holding a bottle of firewhiskey in her hand and that her cheeks were bright red.

"Ah, I see, you're drunk." Remus said.

"Are you not?" Charlotte gasped.

"Well I was, it's wearing off I think." Remus replied.

"Oh no!" Charlotte exclaimed, "C'mon Remus." she said using his arm to stand.

She stumbled causing Remus to reach out and steady her. She burst into another fit of laughter.

"Psst, Remus." she whispered, "I can't even stand"

"I've noticed." Remus smiled.

He grabbed her around her middle and hoisted her over his shoulder.

"Whee!" she exclaimed.

"Alright Charlotte, where are we headed?" he asked.

"To the corner Remus, we're gonna get you drunk!" she said excitedly.

* * *

Sirius watched as Remus carried Charlotte off into the corner. She looked happy, so he decided not to intervene, who was he to split up a perfectly good snog? Especially if it was for a mate like Remus. Instead he found Peter and the plate of brownies.

"Good brownies hmm Pete?" he asked taking a deep bite of one.

Peter giggled sheepishly and nodded.

"Where's James?" Peter whispered.

"With his latest lady love, she's like an upgraded version of Evans." Sirius replied. "Pete, why are you whispering?" Sirius asked.

"I'm pretty sure the nargles are listening in." Peter said glancing around above him.

Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"What the bloody hell are nargles?" Sirius asked.

"Not sure, that Ravenclaw bloke Xeno told me about them." Peter giggled.

"Shit Peter, your high." Sirius laughed.

"You're high." Peter accused.

"No mate, I'm drunk." said Sirius with a wink. "Later Wormtail, I'm gonna go find myself a lady."

"I'm hungry." Peter said, seeming to not have heard him.

Sirius got up and made his rounds about the party. James and Giselle seemed to be in a war with Lily and her new boyfriend to see which couple could be more sickeningly sweet. He thought about going to find Remus and Charlotte, but couldn't spot them anywhere and didn't feel like it was worth it.

A group of sixth year girls were sitting in a group across from him, whispering and giggling and Sirius knew exactly where he was meant to be. He strode over and took a seat in the middle of them and put his arm around the girl closest.

"Why, my lovely ladies, are you all enjoying the party?" he asked winking at the girl across from him.

They all giggled and nodded fiercely.

"It's been quite fun." said the girl sitting across.

She had long blonde hair and stunning legs. Sirius vaguely recognized her as keeper for the Hufflepuff quidditch team.

"I know you." he said unwrapping his arm from the other girl.

"Do you? But we've never met." she said raising an eyebrow.

"Sirius Black." he said offering his hand.

"I'm Viviene Vance." she smiled.

The other girls, sensing defeat, dispersed disappointed and Sirius moved in closer to the girl, making his move. He would make Viviene's night a good one.

* * *

Lily had been watching James out of the corner of her eye most of the night. She was slightly insulted that he hadn't come say hello to her upon arriving at the party. But she wasn't really offended until some large breasted beast waltz in and planted a sloppy kiss on his face. He had just asked Lily if she'd wanted to go to this party with him, there was no way he had already moved onto this girl.

So she watched them walk over to the refreshment table and glared as he poured her a drink. Lily had to meet this girl. This girl who had so easily replaced Lily in James' mind.

"Hey Simon, I wanted to introduce you to my friend." Lily said quickly to her boyfriend.

"Yeah, I'd like that. I have yet to meet Charlotte and Anna." he said grinning.

Lily liked Simon a lot. He was intelligent, kind, and funny, though no where near as funny as James was. He was tall and thin with blonde messy hair and glasses that covered his hazel eyes. Something about him though, was holding her back from introducing him to her friends.

"Well actually, I was going to introduce you to James, he's head boy with me. I know he'd love to meet you." Lily said sweetly.

"Alright, Head Boy it is." Simon said standing and taking Lily's hand.

They walked over to James and the Amazon woman together, Lily's heart was racing out of her chest. Would James even care that Lily was seeing someone? He had been quick to find a new date, but he had been pining over Lily for years now. Maybe he was never actually interested in her and he finally realized it. Whatever the case was, he seemed pretty enthralled by this new girl.

"Hello James." Lily said walking up to the pair. She held Simon's hand tightly in hers.

"Oh, hey Lily, I didn't see you, when did you get here?" he asked smiling at her.

His eyes wandered over to Simon, appraising him.

"I think I was here before you actually." said Lily, forcing a smile.

"Strange, I must've missed you." James replied looking baffled.

"Right." Lily narrowed her eyes at him.

"Who's your friend Jamsie?" the tall girl asked.

She put her arm around James' shoulder in a territorial sort of way that made Lily want to rip out her perfect little curls.

"Oh, this is my friend Lily." James introduced her, "Lily, this is my girlfriend, Giselle."

"Girlfriend? How long have you two been dating?" Lily asked. She didn't even bother to hide her surprise.

"A week." Giselle replied kissing James.

Lily could feel her blood boiling.

"This is Simon." she said sharply.

"Simon huh?" James asked raising an eyebrow, "An how long have you two been dating?" He made sure to direct his question to Simon rather than Lily.

"Er, about a month actually." Simon replied.

"Wow, a whole month, imagine that. I've never even heard of you." James said with a laugh.

Lily glared at him. He had no right to be jealous, not with Giselle standing next to him stroking his hair and constantly kissing his cheek.

"Well, we didn't want to get too serious too quickly or anything. In fact we just recently put a label on it." Simon explained. "I'm sorry, why do you care so much? Lily's never even mentioned you."

James couldn't hide the look of shock and hurt that played across his face. Lily could feel her face turn bright red under James' broken stare.

"Jamsie, let's go find a quiet place to fool around, you friend is dull and I'm bored." Giselle said glaring at Lily.

"Yeah, let's." James said letting Giselle pull him off into a corner.

"Did I offend him? I didn't realize you two were so close." Simon said looking slightly perturbed.

"No Si, you're fine." Lily sighed.

It wasn't Simon who had upset James, it was Lily. They were friends now and Lily should've at least mentioned that to Simon. She had been worried though. Afraid that Simon would find out about James' irrational feelings towards Lily. Those were apparently gone however, or at least they'd been transferred to Giselle.

* * *

James paced across the boy's dormitory, he was so angry. Giselle sat at the edge of James' bed, her legs crossed staring up at him sympathetically.

Giselle dated many boys at Hogwarts, but she wasn't interested in a single one. God had given her a body any boy would be attracted to, unfortunately for boys Giselle wasn't attracted to them. So to make it up to the male population and maybe to earn a little extra money, Giselle was in the business of "dating". She offered many services, from accompanying the males who couldn't find dates to occasions all the way to making girls jealous. James had hired her for just that.

"I can't believe she didn't tell him about me." he said running a shaking hand through his hair.

"James you need to calm down." Giselle said softly.

"I can't," James said glaring at her, "I mean I asked her to the party and she didn't even mention that Simon guy. She must have been dating him. And then to find out she's been seeing him for a month and never even told him about me?" James shouted.

"James, stop." Giselle said standing. "I have a theory."

James finally stood still, he looked up at her slightly curious.

"Alright, spill." James said crossing his arms.

"Okay, well I think the reason Lily didn't mention you to Simon or Simon to you, has something to do with the fact that she was afraid how both of you would react." Giselle started.

"Go on." James nodded.

"I think that she was afraid to tell Simon about you because she would have to explain your feelings for her and if he had asked her is she'd ever had feelings for you, I don't think she'd have been able to lie to him." Giselle finished.

James considered this for a moment.

"So what's the next move?" James asked.

"Well, we're going to have to start seeing each other regularly, the more she sees us together the more jealous she'll become. It's going to cost you extra though." Giselle explained.

"I don't care how much it costs, I need Lily to at least give me a chance." James replied.

"Trust me, by the time I've finished, she'll give you more then a chance." Giselle said with a grin.

* * *

Remus was lying flat on his back, laughing at something Charlotte had just said. He couldn't quite remember what she had said to make him laugh though, in fact he didn't quite remember how he had gotten on the floor at all. He vaguely remember Charlotte shouting at him to swallow half a bottle of firewhiskey, then five minutes later having him finish the second half.

"Remus, you can hold a whole lot of liquor." Charlotte said giggling,

"Yeah, well strong metabolism I guess." Remus slurred.

The truth was Remus' werewolf traits started kicking in a couple of days before the full moon and the full moon was in just two days. Had it been any other time of the month, Remus would've been feeling quite different after chugging an entire bottle of firewhiskey in just five minutes.

"Charlotte, I am drunk." Remus said.

"I think I am too." Charlotte whispered.

Both burst into a fit of laughter, and Remus remembered what had made him laugh so hard before.

"We've had this conversation already." he said unable to control his laughing.

"I don't even remember!" Charlotte squealed, "Remus is the room spinning? Because I think it's spinning."

Remus looked up at the ceiling and squinted his eyes. He couldn't focus for even a second.

"Yep definitely spinning." he said.

He turned to look at Charlotte. She was giggling behind her hands, Remus couldn't believe how cute she looked.

"The room isn't spinning when I look at you." said Remus before he could stop himself. "Oh that was lame." Remus groaned.

Charlotte narrowed her eyes at him. Remus waited nervously for her to say something, anything.

"You have a big nose." she said giving his nose a poke.

"Oi!" Remus exclaimed as Charlotte burst into laughter.

"I'm only speaking the truth mate, your nose is huge. Like really big." said Charlotte. "What about my nose?" She pulled his face to her nose, forcing him to stare directly at it.

"Your nose is cute, like a rabbit." Remus said.

Charlotte gasped and pulled away glaring at him angrily. Remus groaned and hit his hand to his head, how could he compare Charlotte to a rabbit?

"Remus Lupin, you want to turn me into a rabbit again! You don't want me to be human, you want me to be a rabbit forever!" Charlotte cried.

"No, no, you misunderstood me. I think you're adorable, rabbits are adorable." Remus said quickly.

"Shh, stop talking. I'm sleepy." Charlotte put a finger to Remus' lips and rested her head on his chest.

Remus sighed, his buzz was definitely wearing off, which he decided was a good thing, seeing as he was extremely tired. He could hear Charlotte's breathing, she had already fallen asleep. Remus never slept well, but he figured that there was nothing else he could do but close his eyes and try to sleep. He fell asleep trying to match his breathing with Charlotte's.

* * *

"Moony, Moony, Moony." Sirius had been poking his friend's head gently.

Sirius had awoken to a very messy Room of Requirement. It was also littered with bodies of his fellow classmates, most still asleep, some waking up and glancing around trying to piece together what had happened last night.

Sirius found Peter first, he was curled up in a ball squeezing the life out of a pillow. James was nowhere to be found and Sirius assumed he had gone back to his dorm. Lily was curled up next to some guy who Sirius thought looked like the blond version of James. However Sirius was most surprised to find Charlotte asleep in Remus' arms. He of course, had to wake Remus immediately.

Remus groaned. His eyes felt like they were plastered shut, but after much effort he had finally opened them. Sirius was hovering over him with a broad grin.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"You and Charlotte friends now?" Sirius asked.

Remus vaguely remembered the encounter he had had with Charlotte the previous night, Charlotte was still asleep in his arms. Remus looked up at Sirius, utterly shocked.

"I'm going to wake her." Sirius said moving to poke her.

"No don't!" Remus said quickly. He snatched Sirius' hand in mid-air.

It was too late. Charlotte stirred and opened her eyes.

"Good morning Miss Charlotte." Sirius said flashing her a dazzling smile. "Sleep well?"

"Bloody hell!" Charlotte said sitting up quickly, looking at Remus aghast.

"Good morning to you too." Remus mumbled, also sitting up.

"So, have you and my dear little Moony reconciled your differences? Are you two friends now?" Sirius asked Charlotte.

Charlotte looked at Remus apprehensively.

"I don't think I actually remember anything that happened last night." Charlotte said slowly.

"Not even the bit where you said I had a big nose?" Remus asked with a grin.

Charlotte broke into laughter.

"Yes I do remember that." she said nodding.

She paused, her face contorting in confusion as she tried to remember more details from the previous night. Her face turned bright red as she turned to Remus.

"And then you said my nose was cute." she whispered.

"Aw look at that Moony, you made our Lottie blush!" Sirius exclaimed clasping his hands together. "Lottie you're all red."

"Like a cherry." Remus smiled.

Sirius glanced nervously at Charlotte. The blood rushed from her face leaving her pale as she glared at Remus.

"I've got to go." she said hotly. She stood up and turned to leave.

"Wait," Remus said standing after her.

"Remus, I can't be your friend." Charlotte shot angrily.

"Why the hell not?" It was Remus' turn to be angry. He had done nothing wrong, in fact he had been on his best behavior all night. He had honestly felt like he and Charlotte were making some sort of progress towards friendship.

"I have my reasons, please, just respect that." Charlotte replied pleadingly.

Remus watched as she ran out of the Room of Requirement, then he turned to Sirius, begging him to explain what he had done wrong this time. It had taken Sirius almost seven years, but he finally understood why Charlotte couldn't stand Remus.

"Sit Moony." Sirius said putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. They both sat on the floor, cross-legged, facing each other.

"Sirius, I don't get it." Remus groaned.

"I think I finally do." Sirius said, "When Charlotte was little, her dad used to tease her about her blushing, she used to blush real easily. Anyways, he used to call her Cherry."

"She hates me because I said something her dad said?" Remus asked looking at Sirius skeptically.

"I grew up with Charlotte, I was very fond of Mr. Little, he was a great guy. Quite an intelligent man, extremely witty. He was the quiet sort. Used to read all the time, Charlotte would always ask him about his books." Sirius smiled fondly.

"What exactly is your point?" Remus asked.

"Remus, you and Charlotte's dad have very similar traits. She met you only a few months after he died, I think you may have reminded her of him, I mean I think you still do. I think it might be painful for her to be around you." Sirius explained looking at Remus sadly.

"So I'm like a constant reminder of him." Remus said flatly.

"You must've done something when you first met her to trigger that parallel and since she was so young she immediately rejected you because it was easier than thinking about her dad." said Sirius.

"Well, I guess that's settled then." Remus sighed.

"What is?"

"I can't very well change who I am can I? I mean I'm always going to be me." Remus explained.

Remus sighed and stood.

"You know, it really isn't fair." he said looking down at Sirius.

"Life isn't fair Moonface." Sirius said standing as well.

"Yeah, yeah." Remus said rolling his eyes, "I'm going back to the Gryffindor tower, I'll meet you there?" Remus asked.

"Sure, Moony." Sirius nodded.

As he watched Remus walk away he couldn't help but feel incredibly frustrated with the entire situation. He was sure now, that the feelings Charlotte had towards Remus were because of the similarities between Remus and her father. He knew that there were a lot of things about Charlotte's father's death that she still had to work through, until then, Sirius doubted whether she would ever be friends with Remus.

He climbed the stairs to the Gryffindor tower, then up to the boys' dormitory, where he found James asleep in his bed. Remus had probably gone to shower.

"PRONGSIE!" he said jumping atop his friend.

James sat up with a gasp, looking shocked.

"What happened?" he shouted looking around the room groggily.

"Nothing, I was just going to tell you, your new girlfriend is shmexy." Sirius shrugged, moving to the end of James' bed, where he sat cross-legged.

"Oh, er, thanks." James replied reaching for his glasses.

"Also, she's fooling no one." Sirius winked.

"Sorry?" James asked looking at his friend baffled.

"Actually she may be fooling Lily, but certainly not me." Sirius said shaking his head. "I mean really Jamsie, do you honestly believe I haven't made it with a girl as hot as Giselle? I mean I noticed her years before you ever did." Sirius grinned.

"B-but she likes girls." James said scratching his head in confusion.

"Well yeah, but who do you think made her realize that?" Sirius asked.

"So what you're saying, Padfoot, is that you had sex with a girl, and after she realized that she preferred females." Remus said coming out of the restroom, drying his hair with a towel.

Sirius' grin vanished as the realization dawned across his face. James snickered at Sirius, who glared at him. He jumped on top of James again, snatched a pillow from under James and smashed it on his face.

"Don't smother your best friend Sirius, you'll regret it." Remus said smirking.

"You're probably right." Sirius sighed releasing James.

"Toss pot." James grunted angrily at Sirius.

"Anyone seen Peter?" Remus asked.

"Not since last night. He was high as a kite when I saw him." Sirius said with a laugh. "Oh wait no, I saw him this morning, he was sleeping like a little lamb…or pig…whatever." said Sirius shaking his head.

"What did you do last night boys? I left early." James asked getting out of bed and grabbing pants from his trunk.

"Well, I had a fabulous night with a Puff named Viviane." Sirius winked.

"Oh, did you turn her onto women as well?" Remus smirked.

"Oi!" Sirius hollered chucking a pillow at his head. "Moony here spent the night with Miss Little." Sirius said to James.

James raised an eyebrow at Remus, looking highly impressed.

"Well, by the sound of it, I'd say the Marauders had one successful night." James nodded in approval.

"It wasn't like that James." Remus said shaking his head.

"They were snuggling." Sirius said in the cutesiest voice he could manage.

"Sounds like a good night to me!" James shouted gleefully.

Remus laughed and shook his head as James and Sirius high-fived.

"You know though, there was one strange thing about last night." James said cocking his head to one side.

"Oh yeah? What's that Prongs?" asked Remus.

"Why in bloody hell was there a book in the punch?" James asked with a slight grin.

Sirius barked a laugh as Remus' face turned bright red. The two shared a glance, then turned back to James.

"Trust me mate, don't ask." Sirius said and winked at Remus.


	7. Chapter 7

It was a bleary December morning. Snow had covered the grounds of Hogwarts and the staff had already decorated the castle. Charlotte raced down the corridor to Transfigurations. She was about five minutes late and knew Professor McGonagall would have her head. Getting into that classroom was the only thing on Charlotte's mind. Except of course, the metaphorical pile of dung her mother had laid on her early that morning. It took the form of a letter explaining to Charlotte that she thought it would be best if Charlotte stayed at Hogwarts over Christmas break rather than come home to spend it with her.

Charlotte's heart had broken with each word she read. It had taken everything in her to hold her tears in until she reached the girls' lavatory. She told Lily and Anna she's meet them in class as to avoid their pity glances, even if they meant well. Unfortunately, she had taken far too long crying alone in her stall and had completely lost track of the time.

So there she was, racing to Transfiguration's class late and incredibly distracted by her mother's awful letter. Had Charlotte been paying more attention to her surroundings she probably would've seen the mistletoe casually floating in front of her. She also would definitely have seen Remus Lupin turning the corner in just as much of a rush as she. Had both students been more focused, they would not have collided so forcefully into each other that they were knocked off their feet.

"Seriously Little!" Remus shouted, "Why don't you try watching where you're going?"

"I'm sorry." Charlotte replied softly.

The anger which filled Remus seemed to dissipate at the sound of Charlotte's small voice. Charlotte was gingerly rubbing her head where he knew it had hit his chest. In her other hand she was clutching a piece of parchment. Her cheeks were red and splotchy as if she had been crying.

"I'm sorry." Remus said quickly, "I should've been watching where I was going as well."

"Thanks." said Charlotte, "Why aren't you in class?" she asked.

"I was actually sent to find you." said Remus, bashfully.

He stood and offered her a hand which she took with a grateful look. They stood facing each other for a moment, then they heard it. The soft jingle of the mistletoe that had been following pairs of students around, forcing them into kissing. Charlotte's face turned bright red, Remus groaned and looked up at the mistletoe miserably. Both knew the mistletoe would follow them around until they kissed, should the pair of them split off and walk in different directions, the mistletoe would break in two.

"This can't be happening." Charlotte whispered furiously.

"Should we just get it over with?" Remus asked timidly.

Charlotte glared at him furiously.

"No we should not just get it over with!" she snapped, "We'll go to class, hopefully McGonagall can fix it for us." Charlotte said.

"Thank Merlin." Remus sighed.

"You know, snogging you wouldn't really be a picnic for me either Lupin." Charlotte snapped.

Charlotte turned on her heel and stomped off in the direction of their Transfiguration class. Remus rolled his eyes and followed her. She would never be satisfied with anything Remus had to say.

Charlotte strutted into Professor McGonagall's classroom, the mistletoe jingling loudly above her head. Remus, who was slightly more embarrassed, hung back by the door. Professor McGonagall stopped her lecture and gave Charlotte an appraising look.

"What is this?" she asked in a stern voice.

"I got caught under the mistletoe, it was an unfortunate circumstance." Charlotte replied, "Is there anyway you can make it go away?"

"Who's the lucky guy?" Sirius called from his desk.

"Is lucky the word we want to use?" James snickered from beside Sirius.

"Can it Potter!" Charlotte shot, turning to give him a nasty glare.

He cowered back and laughed nervously.

"That will be quite enough." Professor McGonagall said sharply, "Miss Little, I regret to inform you there is nothing I can do. This was the brainchild of our dear Headmaster and he is the only one who would be able to help you, though I'm positive he won't. He's very much into 'Holiday Love' this season. I assure, next year I will be talking him out of these crazy antics." she rattled off sounding rather peeved.

Charlotte stared at Professor McGonagall horrorstruck. She couldn't believe she was out of options.

"I bet its Snivillus, that's why she looks so terrified." Sirius teased.

"I'm sitting over here you great oaf." came Snape's voice from the other side of the room.

"Oi! Watch your back Snivlley!" Sirius shouted.

Professor McGonagall gave Sirius a sharp look that shut him up immediately.

"Miss Little, this has caused quite enough trouble for one day." said Professor McGonagall behind pursed lips.

"I'm sorry Professor." she said taking a seat next to Lily.

Professor McGonagall then turned her attention to the doorway where Remus was still standing, unable to enter.

"Mr. Lupin, are you going to stand by the door all class, or would you like to actually join us?" she asked.

"Oh, right." he said blushing.

He walked hastily into the classroom with his head bent and took a seat in the back next to a baffled looking Peter.

"Remus, you got mistletoed too." Peter said pointing to Remus' head.

"Thanks Pete, I know." Remus grunted.

"Oho! Looks like our little Little, has to share a kiss with dear Remus!" Sirius said gleefully.

"Leave it Sirius." Remus said stiffly.

"Well, get to it then, I don't think any of us wants to hear jingling whilst we're trying to learn the delicate art of transfiguration." James beamed.

"Enough! I will not have such folly in my classroom. Potter, Black, five points each from Gryffindor and I'll see you both next Monday for detention." Professor McGonagall said angrily, "As for you two," she looked from Charlotte to Remus, "Kindly fix this problem. You will not be allowed in my classroom as long as that mistletoe hangs above your heads."

"Yes Professor." the two mumbled together.

Charlotte and Remus collected their things. Charlotte walked towards the door just as Remus was trying to exit. She stopped and stared at him fuming.

"After you." he said sarcastically gesturing for her to exit first.

She lifted her chin and stormed out of the classroom.

"Get that!" Sirius hollered as Remus exited behind her.

The last thing he heard was McGonagall taking away another five points from Gryffindor. He lingered a few moments, letting Charlotte get as far ahead as possible. The jingling was beginning to annoy him.

Charlotte and Remus were denied entrance to the rest of their classes that day and Madam Pince wouldn't let them in the library due to the noise. Neither wanted to roam the halls for fear of being teased by other students or worse, Peeves, and as both refused to kiss the other, the only thing they could do was sit in opposite corners of the common room seething at each other.

But they couldn't hide out forever. After dinner the common room began to fill with students. Many gave them angered looks as they tried to study. Sirius and James, followed by Peter, bounded into the common room, broad grins plastered across their faces. They took seats on either side of Remus, Peter sat across from him.

"So Mooney, you obviously haven't kissed her yet." James said nudging Remus with his elbow.

"Nothing gets past you does it James?" Remus asked dryly.

"You must be hungry, we brought you food." he said rolling an apple Remus' way.

"Remus, you need to take control of the situation." Sirius said firmly, "You're Remus John Lupin and you will not stand to miss another day's worth of classes!"

Remus raised an eyebrow at his delusional friend. Who did Sirius think he was talking to? Clearly he had forgotten.

"Just walk over there and plant a kiss on her lips." James said standing.

Before Remus knew what was happening James had pulled the chair out from under him. Sirius caught him before he hit the ground and stood him upright.

"Go man!" Sirius said pushing Remus Charlotte's way.

It was too late for him to turn back, Charlotte had noticed and was already looking up at him skeptically. Remus turned his head and glared at his friends, all of whom seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. He looked down at the apple in his hand. On any other night he probably would've bolted and made for the portrait hole. Somewhere in the back of his mind though, he was vaguely aware that the full moon was only a day away. He hated the wolf and yet, on rare occasions, when he let the smallest bits of it out, it gave him courage, strength, even charm. James and Sirius were nodding an grinning, they wanted a show and Remus would give it to them.

He walked a few steps closer to Charlotte and took a bite of the apple. She was looking up at him, utterly confused.

"Can I help you with something?" she asked rudely.

"Yes, you can. I want this mistletoe gone and I want it gone now." he replied, smirking.

"Well, you're going to have to figure something else out." Charlotte said apprehensively.

Remus took another bite of the apple and cocked his head to the side. He could feel the rest of the common room begin to watch.

"That's not actually going to work for me." he said in a mock apologetic tone.

Charlotte was speechless now, she opened and closed her moth like a fish trying to speak. If Remus hadn't been so wrapped up in his act he would've stopped to think how adorable she looked. He took one more bite of the apple and chucked it behind him. He heard a thud and an "ouch" and silently hoped he had hit Sirius. Then he bent down and grabbed Charlotte by the wrist and pulled her up to face him.

"What are you doing?" she whispered, her eyes frantic.

Remus stopped short. He was letting the wolf go too far. His heart began racing as he remembered where exactly he was, who he was with, what he was doing, and just how many people were watching.

"Um, we're going to kiss now." he stammered, feeling completely unsure of himself.

"No." Charlotte whispered angrily.

"Please." he begged.

Charlotte looked into his blue eyes. He looked scared. She glanced past him at the room full of people watching their every move. If she walked away now, neither of them would ever live it down. Especially Remus. So she breathed in and nodded.

"Fine, but make it quick." she snapped.

He smiled with relief. She closed her eyes and waited. His lips were warm and soft as the gently pressed against hers. Her breath caught in her chest, the kiss was bliss.

He pulled away quickly, they stared at each other a moment, confused. Then she flung her arms around his neck, he wrapped his around her waist pulling her as close to him as she could get. They kissed passionately now, lips parted, tongues darting in and out. They stumbled back against the wall, his hands traveled up to her hair, hers caressed the nape of his neck. She was up against him and yet he yearned for her to be closer. She felt like she'd never get enough.

There was a small cough from behind them. Neither paid attention. Then Sirius, very loudly said, "Ahem!", and Remus pulled away. Charlotte looked up at him with wide eyes.

"I-er-I-Sorry." Was all she could manage to say before pushing past him and running straight to the girls dormitory.

Lily looked at Remus disapprovingly, Anna grinned at him, then both girls followed their friend up the stairs. One boy started clapping and a few others joined in.

"Alright, cut it out. Off to bed, the lot of you!" James said sternly.

There was a collective groan as the room packed up their things and filed out into their dorms. Remus dared to look at his friends. James he could tell, was trying to hide a smile. Peter was looking at him with awe and a newfound respect. Sirius however, looked highly displeased. His arms were crossed across his chest and he was holding the half eaten apple glaring at his friend.

"Oh good, it was you then." Remus sighed relieved.

Sirius raised his eyebrows at Remus, who grimaced.

"I didn't mean to say that out loud." Remus said quickly.

"You threw an apple in my face Mooney, an apple." Sirius hissed, waving the fruit in Remus' face.

"That's all you're mad about?" Remus asked hopefully.

"Of course not!" he snapped, "You practically shagged Charlotte in front of a room full of people!"

"I don't know what happened." Remus said softly.

"I do, you've got all this pent up sexual energy and you're taking it out on the girl who is like a sister to me!" Sirius yelled.

"That isn't it." Remus tried to explain.

"She's my sister Mooney, my sister. I've known her since before anyone of us could even walk," he seethed, "So let's get something real clear, keep your filthy paws off of her."

Peter gasped and James looked at Sirius appalled. Sirius' eyes widened immediately and Remus knew he hadn't really meant it like that. Still, it wasn't coming from nowhere.

"I-Mooney, I didn't, I meant hands," Sirius stuttered.

Remus raised his hand to stop him.

"No, Sirius, you're right. You're just looking out for her, you don't want her to get hurt. I get it." Remus nodded looking down at his feet.

"Damnit, Mooney, quit feeling sorry for yourself." Sirius spat.

He threw the apple to the floor and stalked up to the boys' dormitory. Remus glanced up at James and Peter, both were looking at him sadly.

"You know he didn't mean it like that." James said placing a hand on Sirius' shoulder.

"Do I?" Remus asked.

"Of course he didn't mean it. You're his best mate." James smiled.

"Would you want your sister with a werewolf?" Remus asked.

"Well, that's completely irrelevant, I don't have a sister." James replied quickly.

"There's the answer." Remus smiled bitterly.

"Now hang on a second. If I did have a sister, sure I'd be worried if she brought home a werewolf. But you are an exceptional human being Mooney and that is only one part of you. Sirius knows that. You were snogging his best friend rather passionately in a room full of people, he was caught off guard. This has nothing to do with you being a werewolf." James said firmly.

"You're right." Remus nodded after a moment.

"Of course I am, Head Boy's always right." James grinned, "Now lets go have a make up moment, full moon's tomorrow, we wouldn't want our two best boys fighting now would we?"

* * *

"What was that?" Lily asked storming into the girls' room, Anna at her feet.

Charlotte was sitting on her bed hugging her pillow. She was mortified that she had snogged Lupin in front of a crowd of people and yet all she wanted to do was kiss him again. She looked up at her friends wide-eyed.

"I don't know." she replied. And she honestly didn't know.

"It was brilliant is what it was." Anna said flopping on the bed beside Charlotte. "I swear I thought you would rip off his clothes and do him right there."

"Anna!" Charlotte shrieked utterly appalled.

Anna giggled as Lily sat down next to Charlotte.

"So, do you fancy him now?" Lily asked skeptically.

"He's Remus Lupin, I don't fancy him." Charlotte replied. She was fooling no one, not even herself.

"Alright, well that kiss sure said otherwise." said Anna.

"It wasn't even that long." Lily said reassuringly. She shot Anna a glare, telling her to shut her mouth.

"It wasn't." Charlotte said not even trying to hide her disappointment. "I've never had a kiss like that." she said absentmindedly.

Lily and Anna exchanged a confused look. Their friend was starting to make no sense at all. She was talking crazy.

"So what are you going to do?" Lily asked trying to bring her back.

Charlotte stared at her friends for a moment, then shook her head breaking her daze.

"I'm going to avoid him at all costs." she replied firmly.

Lily and Anna nodded and told her that was probably best, although neither of them truly believed it. Charlotte listened to them talk a few minutes more, then confessed she was tired and ready for bed. But even after the lights were out and Anna and Lily's breathing had turned shallow, Charlotte still lay awake, thinking about the kiss.


	8. Chapter 8

It was the night before Christmas break and as cold as it was in the Astronomy tower, Remus felt like it was the safest place to hide from Charlotte. His first thought had of course been the library, but that would have been Charlotte's first thought as well. The two had been avoiding each other since their kiss, only they often found themselves hiding in the same place. In fact he had just run into her in the corridor, they had both froze then turned and briskly walked in opposite directions. Things had been weird between he and Sirius for all of five minutes the morning after the kiss, then Siriusmade some stupid joke, Remus laughed and everything went right back to normal. He hadn't asked, nor did he even have the urge to talk to Charlotte about the incident. She seemed to be on the same page, avoiding him at all costs.

He was planning on going back to the common room of course, but by waiting an hour or so he was sure he would avoid another awkward encounter with Charlotte. So he wrapped his cloak tightly around himself and took a seat on the cold concrete, his back against the wall. He pulled out his book and began reading. Not five minutes into reading, Remus lifted his head upon hearing footsteps making their way up the staircase. He froze as the door opened and Charlotte walked through hugging herself to keep warm.

"Bollocks its cold." She whispered to herself.

Remus held his breath; there was no way to avoid her. The minute she looked down she would see him. So instead of waiting, Remus took the initiative.

"Good evening Charlotte, it is chilly isn't it?" he asked looking up at her apprehensively.

She looked down at him with wide eyes and jumped back in shock.

"Good lord Remus, you scared me!" she gasped.

"Apologies." he said.

"What are you doing in the Astronomy Tower?" she asked.

"I could ask you the same question." Remus replied.

Charlotte nodded and looked down at her feet.

"Well, I was trying to avoid you, it was the best place I could think of. I figured you'd have gone straight to the library after our little meeting in the corridor." Charlotte confessed.

"No worries Little, I was actually doing the exact same thing." Remus smiled wryly.

Charlotte gave a short laugh.

"Maybe we should just, I dunno, talk about this." Remus suggested.

"What is there to talk about? We kissed; it was awkward, the entire Gryffindor common room saw, I really don't think there's anything left to be said." Charlotte rambled, her face turning red.

Remus stood, nodding. She was of course right, except about the awkward part. That kiss had been anything but awkward.

"You're right, sorry Little. We'll just go back to avoiding each other." he said shrugging off his cloak. He handed it to a shivering Charlotte who seemed to have forgotten hers in her dorm.

"Thanks." She said.

"Just, I dunno, leave it on one of the couches in the common room." Remus nodded walking past her.

"Hey, Lupin," Charlotte said as he reached the door.

"Yeah?" he asked turning to face her.

"Maybe the break will make things easier." She said with a small smile.

"Yeah," he nodded, "I won't have to run around hiding in awkward places with you gone." Remus smiled.

"Hang on, you're staying here?" Charlotte asked.

"I stay here every year." Remus nodded. "You're staying too, aren't you?" he asked.

She nodded her head slowly.

"Well, this should be fun." Remus said sarcastically.

Before Charlotte had a chance to respond, Remus had opened the door and made his way down the staircase. She would have to wait at least a fifteen minutes before leaving. That would give him enough time to get into his dorm. She pulled Remus' cloak tightly around her shoulders. His scent clung to the fabric and breathed in heavily. It was going to be a long break with just the two of them.

* * *

Sirius and Anna were rarely caught alone together. In fact, they were only ever alone together in dire circumstances. Circumstances like, all of their friends were otherwise occupied. Lily and James were busy on Head Boy, Head Girl duty, and Peter was already in bed. Remus and Charlotte were off avoiding each other.

So Sirius and Anna were left alone in the common room. They both occupied the sofa in front of the fire, though they were seated on opposite sides as far from each other as possible. Anna was immersed in Quidditch Through the Ages, while Sirius doodled on a piece of parchment. He kept glancing up at Anna, wanting to start a conversation, but waiting for the right words. Finally he decided he couldn't stand the silence any longer and he spoke.

"So, Quidditch Through the Ages huh? It's a good read" Was all he could come up with.

Anna jumped ever so slightly at the sound of his voice, but kept her attention on her book.

"I didn't think you'd ever read anything in your life Black."

"Alright, she doesn't want to talk." Sirius said with a smirk. He went back to his doodling.

It didn't take long for him to become bored once again. He looked back up at her, ready to take another shot.

"Where's Kinglsey Shacklebolt? Aren't you seeing him?" Sirius asked.

Anna sighed and put her book down.

"I thought you understood that I didn't want to chat." she said exasperatedly.

"Oh I understood alright, I'm just bored." he replied.

"Well, go find Lupin, or wake Peter up." Anna suggested.

"Remus is studying, if I bother him now he'll bite my head off. And there's no waking Peter once he's asleep, he's like a zombie for hours after waking up." Sirius replied. "So, Kingsley, where is he?" he asked again.

"I don't know, we took a break." Anna said stiffly.

"Ahh, a break. That's never good." Sirius said stretching back on the sofa.

"Sirius, I don't want to talk about it alright?" she asked looking over at him.

"Alright, alright, I understand." he replied nodding.

She smiled and lifted her book again. He watched as he eyes scanned the pages. Sirius felt a pang of guilt. In their fourth year Sirius had made Anna his newest conquest, snogging her as much as possible. Then she had thrown him a curve ball and told him she wanted a relationship. He was fourteen and who wants a girlfriend at fourteen? He had been immature, stupid, careless, and instead of handling the situation, he had scoffed at her. He had been embarrassed and caught off guard, so instead of being honest, he told her she wasn't girlfriend material.

Since then he had watched as she went from one relationship to the next, each one failing as miserably as the last. He couldn't help but feel as though he deserved some of the blame. They had both been so young and impressionable, and he knew it had impacted her more than she was willing to admit.

He glanced over at her, they were never alone like this. He'd have to find the perfect words to make her listen, but if he succeeded before the others returned, he had a chance at making things right with Anna.

"Anna, I have to say something to you." he said.

She dropped her book again, this time less annoyed, she had understood the intention in Sirius' voice. He actually had something to say.

"Alright Black, what is it?" she asked turning her body to face his.

He looked her directly in the eyes as he spoke, not wanting her to misunderstand any part of it.

"I'm sorry for what I did to you in our fourth year. I was a stupid fourteen year old boy who only had one thing on his mind. I regret our situation every day and I wish I could take it all back."

She was baffled. She didn't know whether to be pleased or furious. It had only taken him three years to apologize.

"It's kind of late for apologies, don't you think?" she asked.

"It's never too late. I've watched you go through so many bad relationships and I can't help but wonder if what I said has played a part in any of them. If so, you have to know that I didn't mean it. I was a child; I didn't know how to handle the situation, so I turned it around on you and tried to make you look bad." Sirius explained.

"You really are full of yourself. I mean, everyone always says it, but I never saw it until now. You actually believe that you're the reason I can't hold down a boyfriend." she scoffed.

"Now wait a minute," Sirius said shocked, "That wasn't what I meant. I mean, I just, if I did have anything to do with it, I'm sorry."

She eyed him tentatively.

"Well, Sirius, you really messed me up that year. But we can't place the entire blame one you now can we?" she said with a small smile.

"If it makes you feel any better, I can take one for the team." Sirius beamed.

"Who would've guessed that we would be the most emotionally constipated out of our little group?" Anna said with a bitter laugh.

"Speak for yourself Love." Sirius smirked placing his hands behind his head.

"Come on Black, you've never had a real relationship with anyone." Anna scoffed, "Well, except James."

"I dated that Ravenclaw with the legs, you remember." Sirius said with a wave of his hand.

"First of all, they all have legs, second, there have been so many Ravenclaws I wouldn't even know where to begin, and lastly shagging a girl more than once does not count as dating." Anna said with a raised eyebrow.

"Alright, fine, I've never actually had a relationship and to be honest I'm proud of it." Sirius replied nonchalantly.

"I don't think you are proud of it." Anna said narrowing her eyes at him.

Sirius sat up and turned, meeting her glance.

"Anna, if I wanted a relationship, I'd have one." he said firmly.

"I think you're scared." Anna said.

She hadn't actually meant to say it out loud. It had sort of slipped out. Sirius sat up slowly and looked at her, baffled.

"I'm not even sure what to say to that." Sirius said with a shake of his head.

"I'm sorry Sirius; I didn't mean to say that." Anna said quickly.

"No, you might be onto something. I mean relationships are terrifying. I mean really, only ever snogging one person, only able to sleep with one person. Merlin's Beard! That's horrifying." Sirius said, a broad grin playing across his face.

"Alright, alright, you aren't scared. You're Sirius Black, happy with snogging anything that breathes." Anna said with a laugh.

"Exactly." Sirius nodded, "So, wanna snog?" Sirius winked.

"No Sirius, I do not want to snog." Anna laughed.

"Alright, wanna go on a date?" he asked.

"Sirius Black, you are incorrigible." Anna shook her head. "Let Lily and Charlotte know I went to bed will you?" she asked standing.

"Yes of course. Goodnight Anna." Sirius grinned.

"Night Black." she replied.

"Oh and Anna, I hope this means we can be friends again." Sirius said.

Anna considered him for a moment, and then a smile broke across her face.

"Yes Sirius, we can certainly be friends." she replied.

Sirius watched as she flounced upstairs. Once he was sure he was out of sight, he sighed heavily, running his hand through his hair. Maybe Anna was onto something. Just the thought of becoming serious with someone made his hands shake and his heart race. Then again, the thought of never settling down with anybody brought about basically the same reaction. He was going to have to seriously consider Anna's observation.

* * *

James and Lily walked down the silent corridor together, unspeaking. For the past two months James hadn't stopped "dating" Giselle, although he didn't feel like he was making much progress. Instead Lily had become distant and James' money bag was growing lighter and lighter.

"Are you excited to be going home for the holidays?" James asked Lily, trying to make the best of their awkward situation.

"Mhm." she nodded.

She kept her focus on the corridor ahead of them, watching for any late night wanderers.

"I feel a little bad that Remus will be stuck here alone, Sirius is coming home with me." James said.

Lily stopped and looked up at him with raised eyebrows.

"He won't be entirely alone." she smirked.

"Well yes, I mean there are others staying, but none of us will be here." James rambled.

"No, James," Lily said cutting him off, "Charlotte is going to be here. She's not going home for Christmas."

James' eyes widened in comprehension.

"Well, Mooney is going to have a right shock when he finds out." James grinned.

Lily's shoulders shook with laughter. James smiled; it was almost like they were friends again. How he longed to go back to that.

"Lils, can we just forget everything that's happened and be friends?" James asked suddenly.

She narrowed her eyes up at him, then sighed heavily.

"Mistletoe," she said glancing up above James' head.

James looked up as well, then down at Lily. He leaned in and kissed her gently on the cheek. Then stood back, looking down at his feet blushing. Lily looked up at him shocked.

"Really Potter?" she asked narrowing her eyes at him angrily. `

"Er what?" James asked.

"I, it's just, how long have you been waiting for the chance to kiss me? Six years? And all I get is a peck on the cheek? I mean really James, you have been driving absolutely mad since our second year, begging me to go out with you, confessing your love for me every other day, and you're really going to go with a peck on the cheek? You must really be in love with Giselle." Lily ranted crossing her arms.

"Lily." James started.

"No James, its fine. I get it. I guess I waited too long." she paused then shook her head, "No, I didn't wait too long; I never wanted to be with you. You are an obnoxious, bigheaded, prat."

James stared down at her, completely baffled. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Lily Evans was angry with him for not kissing her. He quickly glanced around the corridor, everything seemed in order, and so he ruled out prank. His next thought was that he had to be dreaming, seeing as there was no way Lily was actually saying these things to him.  
"Lily," James said softly cocking his head to one side, "What are you saying?"

"I don't know what I'm saying James." she said shaking her head, flustered.

"Lily, I'm not dating Giselle." The words had just spilled out; he hadn't meant to say it.

She looked up at him confused.

"Come again?" she asked.

"Merlin, you are going to hate me when I tell you this." James said running a hand through his hair.

"What is it Potter?" Lily asked.

He looked at her apprehensively then sighed and began to explain.

"Giselle and I aren't actually dating. In fact, she doesn't even like guys. She's got a girlfriend, real lovely girl, a Huffelpuff I think. Anyways, we aren't dating; I've been paying her to fake date me because I wanted to make you jealous." James said quickly.

Lily stared up at him, in shock. James scratched the back of his neck, glancing at her now and then with an awkward smile. He was surprised to say the least when Lily began to laugh. She doubled over clutching her stomach.

"Lily?" James asked nervously.

"I don't know whether to be angry with you or to kiss you!" Lily said standing up right, catching her breath.

"The second please." James squeaked.

She narrowed her eyes up at him.

"I really should slap you or something; I mean how could you possibly think that paying a girl to help you make me jealous would be a good idea?" Lily asked shaking her head, "However, it worked, which leaves me completely baffled."

"Now _I'm_ completely baffled." James sputtered.

"Don't get too excited Potter, I am still infuriated with you." Lily snapped.

James grinned.

"James Potter, don't you smile at me like that!" Lily demanded.

"You are so bipolar." James laughed shaking his head.

"And you are a complete idiot." Lily said turning bright red.

"Yeah, I am." James nodded, "Can I please kiss you now?"

Lily gave him an unwilling smile and nodded. James beamed and placed his hand gently at the nape of her neck. He slowly pulled her lips to his. And after six long years, James Potter finally kissed Lily Evans.


	9. Chapter 9

Sirius sat at the long table in the Potter's spacious kitchen. Having been up for two hours at least, he was extremely hungry. He had considered making food himself but who was he to deny Mrs. Potter one of her favorite pastimes? She obviously adored cooking seeing as the Potter's house elf Mipsy was never allowed in the kitchen except to clean. Also, Sirius was hopeless at cooking and he didn't think any of the Potter's would appreciate him burning up their kitchen.

So he waited, drumming his fingers impatiently on the table before him. The Potter's were big fans of sleep and even bigger fans of sleeping in. None of them ever rose before eleven. Back at Hogwarts, Sirius, Remus, and Peter usually had a heck of time getting James out of bed. At home there was no hope.

Around a quarter past ten a large owl, which Sirius recognized as one of the school's owls, swooped into the Potter's kitchen and landed softly on the table in front of Sirius. It dropped two letters in front of him, one from Charlotte, the other from Remus. He opened the one from Charlotte first, figuring Remus' was also for James and not Sirius alone.

_Dear Sirius,_

_The castle is so quiet without you and James strutting about. Also I keep expecting to hear Lily screaming at James for doing something stupid or obscene. Remus is still avoiding me, I'm pretty sure he'll have read the whole library by the time you all get back. Hope you're having a good time at the Potter's. _

_With Love,_

_Lottie_

He frowned, Charlotte seemed to be having a miserable time back at Hogwarts and it had only been a few days since break had started. He glanced at Remus' letter hoping it was a touch more positive and picked it up. James could read it later; after all, it was his fault for sleeping in.

_James and Sirius,_

_Sirius, I know you will undoubtedly be cross with m for writing James' name first, it has nothing to do with who I like better, so do stop pouting. One of these days your face will stick like that and your good looks will be ruined._

Sirius looked up from the letter, his face contorted into a pout. Remus was good. He shook his head and fixed his face into the most dashing look he could muster, if his face was going to get stuck, he decided he'd like it best there. He glanced back down at the letter.

_The castle is quite a bit more peaceful without the two of you causing mayhem. I've gotten all my coursework done and have moved onto reading every book the library has to offer. To be completely honest I'm bored and rather lonely. I daresay I've begun to miss the two of you. Merlin's Beard what have I become? Anyways, hope your holidays are going well. _

_Your Friend,_

_Moony_

Now Sirius was double worried. If Remus was admitting to actually missing him and James, there was a serious problem. How could Remus Lupin be bored with books? Sirius began to ponder the situation.

"PAAAAADFOOOOOOOOT!"

James was running down the stairs screaming like a madman and disrupting Sirius' pondering. Sirius looked up to his friend as James threw the kitchen door open and slammed himself into the seat beside. He fumbled with a piece of paper for a moment, then let it drop on the table in front of Sirius.

"She wrote to me back," he panted excitedly.

"Er…what?" Sirius looked at James confused. He had no idea what his friend was talking about.

"Lily, she wrote to me, look," James pushed the parchment towards Sirius.

_Dear James,_

_I received your letter the other day and I would love to come for dinner over break. I do have one question though, will Sirius be there? I suppose he will be, drat. I really should try and get used to him. I will see you soon._

_Much Love,_

_Lily_

_P.S. I actually miss you. Oh bother._

Sirius looked up at James, his eyebrows raised. James was grinning back at him, waiting for his response.

"Well, I don't know what all the fuss is about, I mean, you two did spend the entire night before break snogging," Sirius replied letting the paper fall back to the table. "Did you really expect nothing to come of that?"

"She actually fancies me Sirius," James said snatching the letter up, "Not even your pessimism can bring me down."

"I am not being pessimistic!" Sirius protested, "If anything I'm telling you I already figured this was going to happen."

"I suppose," James said eyeing Sirius suspiciously.

"Here, we got a letter from Moony," Sirius said handing off Remus' letter to James, "He sounds a bit down in the dumps."

James read the letter, when he finished he put it down and looked up at Sirius grimly.

"You know, it's a full moon Christmas Eve," James said darkly.

Sirius groaned, how could he have forgotten?

"We need to figure something out, we can't just leave him stranded," Sirius said looking at James desperately.

James shushed him, but nodded as his mother entered the kitchen.

"Good morning dears," Mrs. Potter said glancing at the boys suspiciously.

"Morning Mrs. Potter."  
"Morning Mum."

"Now what was all that ruckus I heard a moment ago? Someone seemed to be screaming like a banshee," she asked putting on an apron.

"James here got a letter," Sirius replied with a smirk.

"Oh, a letter," Mrs. Potter said winking at Sirius.

"Yes, alright, you two can stop now." James was slowly but surely turning bright red.

"So, is she coming?" Mrs. Potter asked.

"Yes Mum, she's coming," James replied, he had a hard time hiding his smile.

* * *

Lily paced nervously outside the Potter's front door. She had always known James' family was well off, but she never realized they were insanely rich. Crazy thoughts began to enter Lily's head, causing her nerves to go off the charts. Was she underdressed? What if his parents didn't like her? What if they were Pureblood enthusiasts?

She sighed and shook her head. The last one was a bit farfetched.

She breathed in heavily and raised her shaky hand to the door and knocked. The door opened abruptly and a small house elf stood in front of her.

"Good evening Missus," the house elf said in a squeaky voice. She bowed low and let Lily in.

"Hello," Lily replied nervously as she stepped into the house.

"Would you look at that…Lily Evans, actually in James Potter's house."

Lily looked up to see Sirius leaning against the banister of the large staircase in front of her. He was grinning at her. Her nerves seemed to dissipate, his aura of ease washing over her.

"Oh good, you are here. James neglected to answer my question," Lily said crossing her arms.

"You're happy to see me, don't deny t Evans," Sirius replied.

"Alright, I won't, it's good to see a friendly face," she nodded.

"Mipsy, go get Jamesie for me?" Sirius asked the little house elf.

"Yes, Mister Sirius, sir," she said with a curtsey, then she flounced up the stairs.

Sirius stood appraising Lily for a moment, she didn't break his gaze.

"So, you're getting serious with my best mate?" he asked after a moment.

"I guess I sort of am," Lily nodded.

"He's a fool you know," Sirius said, "But he's got the biggest heart of anyone I know, please Evans, don't break it."

It took Lily a moment to register the look on Sirius' face; she had never seen it before. He was one hundred percent sincere. There was no joke hiding in his eyes, no smile waiting to break across his lips. He was not messing around; he meant every word he said.

"You know, it's kind of early to be making calls like that, but I don't plan to," Lily said.

Sirius finally smiled.

"Good," Sirius said, "And it's never too early when James is involved."

Lily and Sirius stared at each other for a few moments. They had never been friends, they had hardly put up with each other. Sirius despised Lily for what she put James through for he had witnessed to worst of it. Lily had always found Sirius to be, if possible, even more annoying than James. Now, as the two stood glancing at each other, both realized they would have to put whatever ill feelings they had for each other aside and start over as friends.

"Evans!"

Sirius and Lily both looked up to see James descending the stairs. Lily smiled as he approached her and in that awkward moment where James wasn't quite sure of the appropriate greeting, Lily stood on her tiptoes and kissed him softly.

"Hi James," she said with a grin.

"I'm surprised you didn't throw any pet names at her Jamsie," Sirius smirked, "No more Lily Flower?"

James rolled his eyes at Sirius, and then beamed down to Lily.

"I'm not so convinced Lily likes that name," said James.

"I don't even think you liked the name," Lily laughed, "You were just using it to get my attention."

"Hey! And it worked!" Sirius said clapping James on the shoulder, "Well done mate!"

"I don't know if it was the name, but something he did worked," Lily said, a faint blush rising in her cheeks. James smiled.

"Would you like to come meet my parents?" James asked taking Lily's hand.

Lily nodded and allowed James to lead her into the kitchen, Sirius trailing close behind them.

* * *

Dinner was magnificent and James' parents had been equally wonderful. His mother was pretty woman, if not a bit stern looking, at least when talking to James and Sirius. Lily quickly learned that her stern exterior was nothing more than a cover, and only showed up to keep her husband and the two teenage boys in check. Her smile reminded Lily of James' and she was unfalteringly kind to Lily. Mr. Potter was immensely charming, he was silly like James and yet Lily noticed the amount of respect he received from not only James and Sirius, but from his wife as well.

Lily, James, and Sirius were all sitting by a roaring fire in the Potter's cozy, but large sitting room. After dinner Lily had tried to help with the clean-up, but Mrs. Potter wouldn't have any of it, leaving it for Mipsy to do. Mr. and Mrs. Potter retired to bed after sharing a short cup of tea.

"You're parents are lovely James," Lily said shortly after they had gone upstairs.

Lily and James were sharing the small sofa directly in front of the fire. Sirius was in an armchair next to them, both his legs flung over one of the arms.

"My dad liked you, I can tell," James replied smiling down at her.

"Your mum didn't?" Lily asked, her brow furrowed.

"Oh no, of course she did!" James replied quickly. "But she's considerably easier to impress."

"Well, then I'm glad," Lily beamed.

James returned her smile and leaned down to kiss her forehead. Sirius made a gagging noise.

"You two are becoming sickeningly sweet and this has hardly even begun," he said making a revolted face.

"Oh, shut up, Padfoot," James said with a laugh, "You're just jealous."  
"Now really Prongs, do you think I, Sirius Black, am honestly jealous of a man who's gone and gotten himself tied down?" Sirius scoffed.

"Yes, we know, you are not a one woman man," James smirked, having heard the speech one too many times before.

"And never will be," Sirius grinned proudly.

"Oh, I wouldn't count on that Black," Lily chimed in shaking her head, "I'm willing to bet five galleons you fall in love sometime soon."

"Five galleons eh? What makes you so sure Evans?" asked Sirius.

"I can see it in your eyes; you're bored with your current situation. Also, I can tell that you're becoming increasingly curious, you're wondering what it would be like to be a one woman man." Lily finished with a look of triumph in her eyes.

James was grinning, looking back and forth between Lily and Sirius. Sirius just chuckled and shook his head.

"Alrighty Evans, five galleons," Sirius said extending his hand for Lily to shake. She took it, grinning broadly.

"No interference Lils, that's cheating," James said quickly, "And Sirius, you can't deny you're falling in love with someone just to win this. I feel like this could end badly."

"Don't worry Prongs, there's not a girl out there who can handle me," Sirius said.

"We can hardly handle you," James snickered.

Sirius shot him a glare.

"I've got a question," Lily asked, breaking Sirius and James' stare down.

"Yes?" said James.

"Where do your silly nicknames come from? Padfoot, Prong. What do you call Remus? Moony? And Wormtail?" Lily asked.

Sirius and James exchanged a look.

"They're just nicknames that came out of nowhere," James lied.

"Yeah, just out of nowhere, and we liked them, so they stuck," Sirius added.

"Nowhere?" Lily asked skeptically, "You were just sitting around one day and called each other those names?"

"Sure," Sirius nodded.

"I don't believe that for a second," said Lily.

"And you don't have to Lily, but that's out story," James said.

"We're sticking to it," Sirius nodded.

"Alright," Lily said, mildly disappointed.

"Okie dokie kids, I'm off to bed," Sirius said standing and stretching his arms high over his head.

"Night Pads," said James.

"Goodnight Sirius, I'll see you back at Hogwarts," Lily said standing.

Much to Sirius and James' surprise Lily gave Sirius a big hug. Sirius hesitated for a moment, then returned her hug.

"Whoa, you guys are friends now," James said looking baffled.

Sirius and Lily just laughed in response. Sirius gave James a wink as Lily went back to the sofa, and then turned out of the room.

Lily rested her head on James chest and intertwined his hand in hers. It was strange for James, who had spent most of his days wishing Lily would just look his way without contempt in her eyes.

"Lily?" he asked softy.

"Yes?"

"This is strange for me," he sighed after a moment.

Lily sat up and looked at him questioningly. He smiled at her, easing her apprehension.

"It's just, you've hated me for so long, and now you kiss me and hold my hand and come to my parents' house for dinner," James rambled.

"Do you not want me to do any of that?" Lily asked narrowing her eyes at him.

"No! That isn't what I meant," James said quickly. "I guess I'm just a bit confused," he finished with a half-smile.

"Well," said Lily, "I fancy you, I think a part of me might have always fancied you, but you were just such a prat that the part of me that hated you was stronger than the part that fancied you," she said smiling broadly. "And then this year you had grown up so much. I've been struggling with my feeling for you all year James, I'm just happy to have finally figured it all out," Lily finished.

She smiled up at him, then pulled him down into a kiss. When they pulled apart both had huge smiles plastered across their faces.

"Okay, glad that's all cleared up," James said kissing Lily again, "Oh, one more thing," he said.

"What's that?" she asked.

"You and Sirius are friends now?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"Only for you Potter, only for you," she replied with a smirk.

He smiled and gave her a long and appreciative kiss.


	10. Chapter 10

Charlotte froze as she heard steps coming up the stairs. Remus opened the door and stopped dead, regarding her with a look of shock.

"What are you doing in the boys' dormitory?" he asked.

Charlotte thought quickly, she had been sworn to secrecy by Sirius. She didn't want to do it, but Sirius had all but sent her a howler begging her, telling her it was immensely important, without telling her why exactly.

"Sirius asked me to send him this sweater," she said grabbing a hideous striped orange and green sweater and holding it up for Remus to see.

"He hates that sweater," Remus said eyeing her suspiciously.

"Well that's not a surprise is it?" she asked now looking at the sweater herself, "He wants to send it to his brother for Christmas as kind of a joke."

"Alright, I don't believe you, but you've got what you've come for, so please leave," he said gesturing to the door.

"You don't have to ask me twice," she replied coolly.

She stormed past him and straight up to the girls' dormitory. She closed the door behind her, sat down on her bed and pulled out the mirror and piece of parchment Sirius had sent her to retrieve from his drawer. The blank parchment looked old; it was beyond her what it could possibly be useful for. The mirror on the other hand, Sirius had told her how to use. She picked it up and looked at her reflection.

"Sirius," she said to it, feeling quite stupid.

A moment later Sirius' grinning face appeared in place of hers.

"Hello Lottie, I see you succeeded," he said proudly.

"Just barely," Charlotte said, annoyed, "Remus walked in on me."

"Did he see what you were doing? Bollocks Lottie I told you he couldn't find out!" Sirius spat.

"Shut up!" Charlotte said cutting Sirius off. Sirius snapped his mouth shut and glared at her. "He didn't see anything, I had found the parchment and mirror before he walked in." Charlotte explained.

"Sorry for getting snappy," Sirius murmured.

"Its fine, but Sirius, what am I supposed to do with this parchment?" she asked holding up the old paper, "And why ask me to do all of this? I don't understand," Charlotte said quickly.

"Calm down Lottie," Sirius said in a soothing voice, "Before I tell you anything I need you to make me a few promises," he said.

"Sirius-" Charlotte began.

"No listen, I need you tonight, it's extremely important, I wouldn't ask otherwise, you know that," Sirius explained in a pleading voice, "But I can't let you help me without making these promises first."

Charlotte looked into Sirius' eyes. She had half a mind to tell him to find someone else to do whatever it was he wanted her to do, but she knew if he wasn't asking Remus, there was no one else.

"Alright, fine, but you so owe me," Charlotte grumbled.

"Yeah I do," Sirius beamed, "Okay I've already explained to you how important it is that Remus doesn't know your involvement in this," he began.

"Yes, yes."

"Shut up and listen Lottie," Sirius warned, "The next thing you have to promise me is, no matter what you see on that piece of paper you will not leave your dormitory tonight."

Charlotte looked down at the blank parchment, old and wrinkled, then back to Sirius skeptically.

"Alright, I promise," she shrugged.

"Good, now unfold the parchment," he instructed.

She set the mirror down and did as Sirius said, and then looked back at his face for more instructions.

"Alright, now please tap it with your wand and say the words 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good'" he said.

She did as he said and gasped as the parchment filled with words and elaborate drawings, more than that, the drawings were moving. The words, Messers Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs Proudly Present the Marauder's Map headed the parchment.

"What the hell is this?" she asked breathlessly. Then, as her eyes scanned the page more closely the answer came to her, "Merlin's Beard, Sirius this is a map of Hogwarts!"

"Sure is," he grinned.

"Wait a minute…" she said glancing at the four names heading the map, "These names, I know these names."

"Yeah, we really should be more careful with tossing them around," Sirius said thoughtfully.

"You, James, Remus, and Peter call each other these names," Charlotte said looking at him confused. "Surely the four of you didn't make this," she scoffed.

"Actually Lottie, we did. Well, Remus and James did most of the actual charm work and designing of the map," he admitted, "But most of the field work was done by me and Petey."

"Sirius, this is amazing," she breathed, "But what am I to use it for?"

"Er, okay," Sirius began apprehensively, "I need you to monitor this map periodically through the night."

"You're joking," Charlotte said behind laughter, "Whatever for?"

"I just need you to look out for our dear friend Mooney tonight," Sirius said evenly.

"I'm sorry, _our_ friend?" Charlotte asked.

"Yes Charlotte, _our_ friend. He might not be your favorite person in the world, but he's going to need a friend tonight and unfortunately you're the only other Gryffindor at Hogwarts who can help," Sirius replied.

"I'm the only other Gryffindor left at Hogwarts period," Charlotte said bitterly, "So am I to follow him around all night?"

"No!" Sirius shouted, "You are not to leave the Gryffindor tower for anything tonight, anything."

"Alright, alright, don't have a cow," said Charlotte, "So I just watch the map for him?"

"Yes, watch the map for him, and make sure he gets back to his dorm by morning."

"Sirius, this isn't making any sense," Charlotte said desperately trying to understand anything about her and Sirius' conversation.

"I know Lottie and I'm sorry," Sirius said. "I've got to go," he said apologetically.

"Sirius, I don't understand," said Charlotte.

"If you need me just use this mirror, I will probably respond," Sirius said with a wink and then he vanished and Charlotte was left staring at her own reflection.

* * *

Charlotte was curled up fast asleep in one of the squashy armchairs in the Gryffindor common room. The Marauder's Map was open and lay atop her as almost a makeshift blanket. She watched the small dot that was Remus Lupin leave the Hogwarts castle after an early dinner and head out onto the grounds. She followed him all the way to the Whomping Willow where he seemed to have disappeared. Charlotte had written this off as a mistake, the map was made by Sirius, Remus, Peter and James after all; it had to be riddled with mistakes. She had watched the map for hours, with no sign of any change. Eventually she fell asleep, watching Dumbledore pace back and forth in his office.

Hours later Charlotte groaned as the sun rose, shining in through the common room windows casting light across her face. She opened her eyes, confused for a moment as to why she was in the common room, and then as the map slid off of her and onto the floor, she remembered. She quickly grabbed the map and scanned if for Remus' dot. He was not in the boys' dormitory, so Charlotte scanned the map. Charlotte found his dot out on the grounds near the lake. It took her a moment of watching it before realizing that it was not moving.

She glanced out the window, the grounds were covered in snow, lying out by the lake seemed like a ridiculous way to spend the morning. Charlotte considered using the mirror to get a hold of Sirius, but seeing as it was morning, she didn't feel she needed his permission to leave the Gryffindor Tower. So she ran upstairs, grabbed her cloak and scarf, and went off to find Remus.

It was frigid outside in the snow, Charlotte's nose went frozen almost the instant she stepped outside. She hugged herself as she made her way across the grounds. She pulled out the map again, forgetting where it had said Remus was. She walked a few paces, watching as her dot slowly met up with Remus', when she looked up she found him sitting at the base of a tree, shivering in the cold.

"Lupin!" she raced towards him and collapsed into the snow beside him. "What on Earth are you doing out here? It's freezing."

"Charlotte?" he asked looking up at her.

She noticed he was breathing heavy and clutching his side. Clearly he was in pain.

"Remus, what's wrong? Are you hurt?" she asked.

He let out a bitter sort of laugh that Charlotte could not comprehend. She reached out for his hand and pulled it away from him. Charlotte gasped; blood was seeping through his shirt.

"Remus, you're bleeding," she breathed.

"Oh is that what that is?" he asked sarcastically.

Charlotte looked at him curiously. He was hurt badly and yet he was making jokes, like it was normal for one to be bleeding all over himself outside in the freezing cold.

"Remus, let me see," she said, reaching out to lift his shirt.

"No," he snapped, grabbing her hand. "I'm fine; just help me get to the infirmary."

"Remus don't be daft, let me see," she argued.

They struggled with each other for a moment, but Remus gave up quickly, letting his hands fall to his sides. He glared into the distance as she gingerly lifted his shirt. There was a huge scratch mark across his chest, it was deep and had to have come from some sort of animal.

"Remus, what attacked you?" she asked looking around wildly for any sign of the creature.

"It's gone now," he sighed.

"But what if it comes back? I mean it could come back," she stammered, looking at him with terrified eyes.

"Charlotte, it isn't coming back, not now anyway," he said calmly. "Now please, help me get to Madam Pomfrey."

Charlotte nodded, still a little unsure. She was confused and scared, but Remus didn't seem fazed by any of the bleeding, then she threw his arm around her shoulder and hoisted him up to his feet, and together they stumbled back to the castle.

* * *

Remus groaned as he opened his eyes. It was dark outside, but the infirmary was dimly lit. He couldn't remember how he'd made it up to the castle. He remembered sitting against a tree, unable to take the pain. He had all but torn himself to shreds in the absence of his friends.

It didn't take him long to realize that he couldn't feel his left arm. He looked down, confused, and was shocked to find Charlotte sitting in a chair beside his bed. She had slumped over and fallen asleep with her head resting on his arm. Seeing her sleeping there, Remus suddenly remembered how he got back to the castle, Charlotte had been there, she had helped him. He didn't want to wake her, but the fact the he felt like he had no left arm was becoming increasingly disturbing to him, so he let out a cough.

Charlotte stirred and sat up blinking groggily at him. Then, and Remus could have died of shock, she smiled at him.

"You're awake," she said, her voice full of relief. "How are you feeling?"

"Awful," he said shaking blood back into his arm.

Then a horrible thought struck him. Charlotte was not wandering outside on Christmas morning for no reason; she had to have been looking for him. She knew. He looked up at her terrified.

"What is it?" she asked worriedly.

"How did you know I wasn't in my dorm? How did you know you'd find me out there? Why were you looking for me?" he hounded.

Charlotte stared at him frozen, her mouth ajar. After a moment she closed her mouth slowly and cleared her throat.

"I noticed you weren't at the Christmas Eve feast last night, it was hard not to notice, hardly anyone stayed here over the holidays," she began. "I asked Professor McGonagall where you were, but she sort of waved me off so I kind of forgot about it. I fell asleep in the common room though, I was reading, and in the morning I went to the window to see the snow and that's when I saw you in the distance, so I went to see why you were out there," she finished her story staring him square in the eye.

"Oh, alright then," he said feeling his heart rate reach a normal pace once again. "How long have I been asleep?"

"All day," she replied simply. "You must be starving."

"What? Have you been here all day Little?" he asked looking at her baffled.

She blushed and fiddled with her hands.

"Well, I was scared, and Madam Pomfrey wouldn't tell me anything, but she said I could stay if it made me feel better and then I fell asleep," she mumbled.

"Scared? Why were you scared?" Remus asked.

"Why wouldn't I be?" she asked looking insulted. "I find you outside in the snow, bleeding profusely from a wound the looked like it came from a bloody bear, then I bring you up here and you pass out the minute you hit the bed and on top of that no one would tell me what was going on! You try not to be scared!" she shrieked.

"Miss Little, if you are going to insist upon screaming at my patients, I will have to ask you to leave," Madam Pomfry said sticking her head out of her office.

"No, she's fine," Remus said quickly.

Madam Pomfrey narrowed her eyes at the two, then ducked back into her office and out of sight. Remus turned his attention back to Charlotte.

"Okay, I see how that may have been a bit frightening," he said gently.

"A bit," Charlotte scoffed.

"I'm sorry Charlotte," said Remus.

"Apology accepted," Charlotte replied bitterly. "Now are you going to tell me what happened?"

Remus couldn't believe she hadn't figured it out already. She had found him, the morning after a full moon, beat up and battered, and she still hadn't pieced it together. He considered telling her for a moment, but pushed that thought far from his mind, as it made him want to vomit.

"I-er-I sleepwalk and early this morning I walked into the snow," he started, "See, James and Sirius never let me get that far, but they aren't here. Anyways, one of Hagrid's hippogriffs was out and he got me." Remus looked up at Charlotte, clearly she had not bought his awful lie. He didn't blame her.

"Do I look stupid?" she asked, "Because I saw that mark and it was no talon, it looked like it came from a claw. Also you'd have had to have been shirtless when this hippogriff attacked since your shirt managed to leave the tiff unscathed."

Remus opened his mouth, trying to think of another lie, anything to keep the truth from Charlotte. He was saved by Madam Pomfrey, who came out of her office.

"I'm going to go down to dinner, Charlotte it would be wise to come as well, but if you'd like to stay I'll understand," she said to the pair.

"I'll be staying," Charlotte said crossing her arms.

"I figured as much," Madam Pomfrey sighed as she left the infirmary.

Charlotte and Remus stared at each other for a long time, Remus refusing to tell Charlotte the truth, Charlotte refusing to move past the topic.

Remus sighed, "Look, I'm not going to talk about it Little, so can we please move on?" he asked.

"No, no we can't," she said firmly.

Remus was about to respond when he felt the dreadful, all too familiar muscle spasms flow throughout his body. His fists clenched as the pain took hold of every single part of him. He glanced up at the window; the moon was shining in drenching him in its light.

"Remus what's wrong?" Charlotte asked in a shaky.

"Close the curtain," he managed to say. Charlotte stared at him thunderstruck and unmoving. "Charlotte now!" he growled.

Charlotte jumped up and ran to the window flinging the curtains shut. Remus collapsed back onto the bed, breathing heavily as every muscle in his body contracted. The bed squeaked and Remus felt Charlotte's weight as she sat at the foot. He lifted himself, leaning against the headboard for support. She was sitting with her legs crossed and her hands in her lap. Her face was pale, but other than that she seemed calm and collected.

"You're a werewolf," she told him after a moment.

"Yeah," he nodded.

"Why are you not turning?" she asked.

"I changed last night on the actual full moon," he said. "But the moon has already begun to wane. It doesn't affect me the night directly before or the night directly after as long as I stay out of it."

"I guess I missed that lesson," she smirked.

Remus was shocked at how well she was taking it, though it probably shouldn't have come as a surprise to him at all, not after James, Sirius, and Peter.

"You aren't scared?" he asked.

"Why should I be? As long as those curtains stay shut, you're still Remus," Charlotte shrugged.

Remus shook his head and winced as his body fought with its self.

"My body is confused, it's been exposed," he groaned.

"Are you going to change?" Charlotte asked the slightest bit of panic surfacing in her voice.

"No, but I've got a full night of this ahead of me," he grimaced.

Without a word Charlotte slid herself next to Remus on the bed. She took one of his hands in hers and with her other hand she began to gently stroke his forehead.

"Charlotte you don't have to do this," he sighed, "I've already ruined your Christmas."

"Remus, my Christmas was ruined the minute I opened that letter from my mum," she replied in a soft voice. "I don't have to do this, but it's what James, Sirius and Peter would be doing. They aren't here right now, so someone's got to fill in," she said firmly. "And I'm glad to be the one," she added with a smile.

"Well, I doubt any of them would be holding my hand right now," Remus said with a small smile.

"No, you're right about that," Charlotte laughed.

Remus groaned and doubled over again as his body struggled to change, but Charlotte didn't leave. She waited patiently for it to pass, then as Remus returned to a laying position, she resumed stroking his hair.

"My dad died when I was ten," she said suddenly.

"What?" he asked looking up at her confused.

"I'm sorry, I thought maybe if I told you a story it would take your mind off things," she said sheepishly.

Remus doubted anything could take his mind off of the pain coursing through his body at the moment, but he wanted to hear about her father.

"It wouldn't hurt to try," he smiled. She smiled back.

"My dad died when I was ten," she began again. "It was the summer before I went off to Hogwarts. He was an extremely smart man, funny, kind. I loved him. But ever since I can remember there was a sadness about him, he never seemed happy. When Dad was sixteen, his little brother died. Dad had been watching him, but there wasn't anything he could do, his brother had been sick for a long time. He just happened to be watching him when he passed. And my dad never forgave himself; he didn't even trust himself with me. He just couldn't handle the guilt any longer I guess, so he killed himself."

Remus dared a glance at Charlotte, there were tears falling down her cheeks. He couldn't believe she was opening up to him like this. He pushed himself up so that he was level with her, then pulled her into him.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

She sniffled and pulled away.

"Did it work?" she asked with a sad smile.

It didn't, but he couldn't tell her that, so he nodded.

"Charlotte you didn't have to tell me that," he said lying back down.

"We're even now," she shrugged.

"Alright then," Remus laughed.

"You know, the day we met, on the Hogwarts Express, you were reading a book, well play really, called 'As You Like It'" she said. "I remember because my dad read it to me, he loved Shakespeare and that happened to be his favorite."

"That certainly explains quite a bit," said Remus.

"Yeah, I suppose it does. I'm sorry I never gave you a chance Remus," Charlotte said softly.

Remus laughed lightly at this.

"What's so funny Lupin?" Charlotte asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, I just find it amusing that you're giving me a chance now, after you find out what I am and all," he replied.

Charlotte looked at him curiously. She had stopped playing with his hair; he wished she would start again. He hadn't noticed until she had stopped that it actually been helping him a great deal.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked.

"You just, you act like being a werewolf is grounds for everyone to shun you or something," she replied, shaking her head slightly.

"Well, that's because for most people it is," he replied. "Why do you think I keep it from everyone? I mean, most people don't react the way you did."

"They should. I mean, it doesn't change who you are, you're still Remus," she said resuming playing with his hair.

"Thanks Little," Remus smiled.

"Do you think you can sleep?" she asked.

"Probably not," he shook his head.

"Well, I think you should try. I'll go." she sitting up and swinging her legs off the bed to stand. Remus grabbed her hand.

"If you go, I surely won't be able to sleep," he said.

Charlotte smiled and crawled back into the bed beside him. She snuggled in close to him and continued to run her hand through his hair. He closed his eyes and the two were asleep within minutes.

Madam Pomfrey was not surprised in the least to see Charlotte and Remus asleep on the bed together. She had half a mind to wake the girl and tell her to head back to her common room, but they both looked so peaceful. Remus was still twitching every now and again, but other than that she had never seen him sleep so soundly and he had spent a lot of nights in her hospital wing. So she slid into her office, allowing the two their sleep.


End file.
